Stand By Me
by Jokerang
Summary: Wanda Maximoff is adjusting to life as an Avenger - and without Pietro. Steve Rogers has been there and knows what that's like. Somehow, they fit together quite nicely. Technically in the same universe as my Punisher stories, but can be read on its own.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is an idea that's been in my head for some time, and I decided to write it out. It's in the same universe as my Punisher stories, but can be read on its own. You may be wondering how Frank Castle and Maria Hill got together, though.**

"You know what you need, Cap?"

Sam Wilson jogged around the track at the New Avengers Facility alongside Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. The two of them were completing their early morning routine. They'd taken it upon themselves to get themselves ready for the mornings so that they could train all the new soldiers and spies Fury had brought here. The new team might have been the focus of the facility, but SHIELD 2.0 wanted to rebuild and rebuild yesterday. Therefore, much of the focus at this point was essentially raising an army.

"What, Sam? And don't say-"

"You need a date. A proper one." Sam slowed down to catch his breath. Even at his peak, he was no match for someone with the super soldier formula.

"Too busy for that." Steve slowed as well, to let his friend feel better about himself.

"No, man, you need to get a real date. I'll even help you if it's that bad."

"Nope," replied Steve confidently. "Natasha's still mourning for Bruce, Maria has Frank, and Dr. Cho just went out with Simon earlier this week."

"Doesn't need to be someone you know well," said Sam. "Lot of cute girls in the recruits. I'm scheduled to meet one of them in the Starbucks down the road that leads to Albany. Maybe you can be a third wheel."

"Shut up," replied Steve in a friendly manner as he walked off, got a sip of water, and headed towards the central parking lot of the facility. In the middle of it was an impressive and massive statue depicting the Battle of Sokovia. All of the heroes that had participated in the takedown of Ultron at the church with the vibranium device were depicted in impressive marble poses. Stark's money, no doubt.

Moving right along, Steve walked towards a large tree that provided shade for a lone grave. The grave of Pietro Maximoff.

His twin sister Wanda was there. Steve had spotted her there most mornings, when she wasn't experimenting with her powers. At first she sobbed a river of tears, but as two weeks passed, she slowly and slowly accepted that her last family member was gone. This day, she happened to be sitting on the bench placed in front of the tombstone. Steve sat down next to her.

"I'm here to pay my respects," he told her. "If for any reason you're uncomfortable, I'll leave, no questions asked."

"You are too kind, Captain," she replied with a runny nose. "Pietro was… everything. All I had for fifteen years. And now, he's… gone." She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Grief doesn't go away," said Steve. "It's something you have to live with. I remember burying my mother not long after becoming an adult. She was only one of two people that gave a darn for me before the formula."

"And who was the other?" Wanda was genuinely curious.

"Bucky Barnes, my best friend growing up. Got through childhood together, got through the war together. I lost him too, shortly before I hit the ice. Seventy years later, I wake up, only to find out HYDRA was using him as their guinea pig weapon."

Wanda turned away. "I suppose you don't like that I joined them willingly, then."

"HYDRA fed you sugar-coated lies, you didn't know any better. And your will is stronger than that. If it weren't, you wouldn't be here, as one of the new Avengers. You didn't have to join; you volunteered."

"I know. It's just…" She begins visibly shaking in distress. "I feel so alone. I barely know any of you. How will I even…" She began crying more heavily.

It pains Steve to see her like this, and he puts an arm around her. "Shhh, it's ok. I'm here for you." He becomes a shoulder for her to cry on. He'll give her as long as it takes.

After a few moments, she pulled herself together and broke the tender embrace. "We should go. I have training to do with my powers and so do you."

"No need to rush," he said with a smile. "We can take our time."

"No really, let's get to work, Captain."

"It's just 'Steve'. And if you insist."

They walked together back to the main building. Steve noticed Wanda now carried herself with more of a sense of self-worth. It made her all the more attractive.


	2. Chapter 2

**I got the idea for this one when Chris Evans had a birthday yesterday. I changed it to Sam's b-day after learning Cap has a birthday on the Fourth of July (couldn't have picked a better day lol). Once again, it's a drabble, and I probably make someone somewhere OOC. Enjoy anyways.**

Wanda conjured two more red bursts of energy and shot them at Steve's shield. The blasts knocked him off balance, but didn't send him flying like she expected.

"Not bad," replied Steve. They'd spent this particular day going back and forth against each other, planning out and responding to various situations they might have encountered in the field. "You're getting better at attacking. When we started, you couldn't even budge me. Now, let's try defense again."

Without warning, Cap threw the vibranium shield at her. But at this point in the day, her reflexes were honed in and ready. Wanda caught the shield with another burst of red light, then threw it aside telepathically.

"Impressive," remarked Steve. "2.5 seconds. That's your fastest all week. Good job. We'll call it quits there."

"Steve," said Wanda, "Isn't today someone's birthday?"

"Oh," said Steve, having a déjà vu moment. "It _is_ Sam's birthday. Hopefully, the party favors are still scheduled to be here."

The "party favors" Steve was referring to were preparations for a surprise birthday party once Sam arrived back from a mission with James 'Rhodey' Rhodes, aka War Machine. Steve sent them off in advance, hoping to catch his best friend off guard. The usually hardened Fury had given the whole thing his approval.

Steve and Wanda passed by the firing range aka the Pit, which spread out over a large area: almost 150 yards squared. Half a dozen recruits, watched from a balcony by Maria Hill and Simon "Ghost" Riley, practiced hitting both static and moving targets with an assortment of pistols, rifles, and launchers.

"Afternoon," said Maria in a calm demeanor. "Nothing special happening in the Pit, if you're wondering." She marked scores and misses on a clipboard while Ghost barked out orders and commands in his British accent.

"Has she ever used a gun?" asked Ghost through his skull patterned bandana, pointing at Wanda. "Never hurt to learn."

"My powers are more than sufficient to handle a situation," replied Wanda. "I don't see the point."

"What about a worst case scenario? Suppose HYDRA has some secret weapon that neutralizes telekinetic abilities. What would you then?"

"I'll train her in firearms," said Steve. "When the time's right. Right now the focus should be on getting all of these grunts in ship shape for field operations."

"These 'grunts' come from the Marines, SAS, and other special forces," snapped Ghost defensively. "They earn their merit-"

"That's enough, Riley," said Maria, cutting in. She knew Steve was close to butting heads with the former SAS man, and that was unneeded. "Steve, why don't you get Wanda helping out with the party favors?"

"Sounds fun. Come on," said Steve to Wanda as they went off to the main building. He jogged lightly, she levitated.

"I think he's got a thing for her," said Ghost as he and Maria watched Captain America and the Scarlet Witch enter the main building. "He's usually not that defensive and protective of anyone."

"Well, she _did_ lose the only family she had left, and he feels the need to be a helping hand," said Maria. "Steve's like that. He's always on the lookout for the lost and broken, because that was him before his serum."

"And when she's not lost or broken?" asked Ghost.

Maria smiled. "That's when things get interesting."

Falcon and War Machine arrived around five in the evening. Their mission hadn't been hard: just fly over to the Bronx and shake up two gangs that had been trying to take the place of Wilson Fisk and his associates. Their job was made easier by the fact that the masked man known as Daredevil was on scene, and volunteered to "clean up the mess", as he put it.

"Hey Sam. Hey Rhodes," said Steve as the two flying Avengers landed and took off their flying gear. "You encounter any problems?"

"Not at all," replied Rhodey. "Police almost got involved but we were too fast for that." He noticed that Steve and Wanda were the only ones in view. "Where's everyone else?" Like the rest, he was involved in the surprise for Falcon.

"Dunno," said Steve, playing dumb. "Wanda, could you fly over and check out where everyone is?"

"Yes, Captain," she replied. That was Steve's code words for _get everyone ready._

The three military men walked close behind. "So Steve," said Falcon, "you every take that advice for getting a date? Wanda seems nice enough."

"Like I said: not my time," said Steve, though his heart did flutter a little bit at the sound of Wanda's name.

They got to the main building. The lights were off, and Sam was confused. "What's this?'

"We'll see," said Steve as he flipped the switch.

It might have been tacky, but the hangar room was decked out with cheesy birthday celebrations and decorations. A banner reading "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM" hung from the balcony. Furthermore, everyone was here: Natasha, Vision, Wanda, Ghost, Hill and at least thirty recruits and staff.. Even Fury, the workaholic, was here, and he was actually smiling for once.

Sam just looked shocked. "Seriously, Cap? I told you I didn't want a big birthday!"

"Couldn't resist. I _am_ your best friend," replied Steve. "Happy Birthday, man."

"So now what? Do I get something or.."

"Yep. Show him." Two men brought in a large circular cake, decorated like Cap's shield.

"Wow, Cap," said Falcon. "It's my birthday, not yours."

"Well," said Steve, "Stark was the one who paid for it, so I kind of had to go along with what he ordered. Go ahead and dig in."

He did, and Steve and Natasha went on cutting up pieces of the Captain America themed cake. The inside was several layers of expensive chocolate that Steve knew were elements of Stark's touch. Fury looked at the super soldier with approval.

"Didn't expect you to be the one to cancel training for a birthday," the spy told Steve.

"Figured we could have an off day. Can't run an organization with all work and no fun. Besides, I've done this before with the Howling Commandos. Colonel Phillips wasn't too happy at first, but I figured he could relax and celebrate getting older."

Nick's good eye widens, thinking that Steve made a passing jab at the superspy.

"Relax," said Steve. "I'm not going to ask Natasha to do anything for your birthday, if that's what you're worried about."

"Good, it better." Fury walks off, leaving Steve to wonder around and make chitchat with the others. He notices Wanda doing her best to fit in. He knows that this is good for her, to help her fill in the gap left by her brother's death.

"Hey," he says to Wanda. "How's the cake? Stark paid a small fortune, according to him."

"I love it," she replies in her accent. "Luxuries were hard to come by in Sokovia, so I can't help myself. I'm going to get fat if I have another bite."

They made some more small talk, and then they went their separate ways. Natasha caught Steve off guard. "You know Steve, if you ask her out, she'll probably say yes."

"Again, Nat? I don't feel like putting that kind of pressure on her when she's still getting accustomed to life here."

Natasha Romanoff rolls her eyes. "Suit yourself, super soldier. Just know that most of us know about the way you look at her."

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked Natasha as the Russian spy walked off to talk with Maria Hill about something. But he couldn't deny that Nat was wrong about how Wanda caught his eye.


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow, you guys surprised me with the ridiculous amount of follows and feedback! Totally didn't expect it. I guess there a lot more Steve/Wanda fans out there than I expect. With that in mind, these "drabbles" are going to take a life of their own.**

* * *

"On your right, Romanoff." Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff were in Montreal for this mission, taking down Phillippe Gasol, a Quebec drug lord notorious for everything from contraband to human trafficking. They figured that grabbing a guy so close to home wouldn't hurt.

"Roger that. And on your left." The Black Widow kicked another thug in the gut, sending him flying into the door leading down a hallway, where the office of the drug lord was situated.

"You know, I might not ever get tired of this," said Steve as he dropped an unconscious guard and walked casually with Natasha down said hallway. "It suits me."

"Actually, that's Frank. Why do you think he's never around?"

"Beats me."

"Me too. By the way, you ever get around to asking out Wanda yet?"

Steve's eye's widened. "Um, no. Why, you trying to play matchmaker again?"

"No, I'm just wondering why you aren't taking advantage of a good situation. She's cute and looks up to you. If that's not a good dating situation I don't know what is."

Steve scoffed. He didn't have time for a personal life. The job, being an Avenger, was his life.

The two of them burst open the locked door at the other end of the hallway. The boss and his men had set up a barricade and began firing, but their bullets were no match for a vibranium shield. Natasha used the shield for cover as she shot the men one by one.

Finally, only the drug lord was left. Cursing in French, he made a desperate swing at Captain America. It was in vain, however, and the Captain easily dodged his arm and hit back with enough force to knock him out.

After making sure the room was secure, Natasha said, "If you're insecure, I'll set you and Wanda up. Not that hard really." She pulled out her phone and began texting.

"Nat, what are you doing? We're working right now."

"Nothing. Just texting a fellow teammate."

Steve sighed heavily. "Fine. I'll do it myself. Now stop pestering me about it."

"Only if you're as good as your word. Now let's clean up our mess and get this guy dropped off at the right place."

Steve agreed and went to business, but his thoughts were elsewhere. Getting a dating life opened up a new can of worms, one that Steve was rather naïve about.

* * *

Back at Avengers HQ, Steve gave some intel from the mafia boss's office on a USB to Ghost and Maria, who put it on their own high tech computer and began rummaging through it. This mafia boss Gasol was no ordinary fish. He was connected with lots of people around the world, and they figured they could take down the whole thing with one fell swoop.

"There's a firewall and some strong encryption on this thing," said Ghost. It's going to take some time."

"How long?" asked Hill.

"We're talking hours. Whoever this guy was working with, he didn't buy second hand."

"What exactly are we looking for again?" asked Steve. As far as he knew Maria had been running this op until he and Romanoff had been sent after Gasol.

"Our missing person," said Hill. The missing person in question was one of the recruits that had been kidnapped while on leave in New York. That was what Falcon and War Machine were after. The men who'd kidnapped him told the Avengers that they'd been hired to do that job for Gasol, who in turn was working for someone else.

Someone with a score to settle had been very careful to cover their tracks.

"Good to know we still care about him," said Steve about the missing persons case. Technically he still counted Bucky under that list, but with the job of being an Avenger taking up all of his time, the search for his best friend was on hold. "Later, Maria."

"Likewise," she said as she talked to Ghost about something on the USB. Steve walked out of the room and ran into Natasha and Wanda. Natasha had taken the young Sokovian girl under her wing for training, and they had just spent a good hour in the boxing ring, practicing. Wanda had no real physical strength to speak of, but she was trying, and that was what counted.

"How's training coming along?" Steve asked Wanda.

"Better," she replied. "I actually managed to punch Natasha without being blocked, even if it took thirty minutes."

"Practice makes perfect," said Natasha, already walking briskly towards wherever she was going to. Before leaving the two of them alone, she mouthed something to Steve: _ask her out_.

Steve cleared his throat before facing Wanda and her dark eyes again. "So Wanda, um… um…"

"Is something wrong?" Wanda asked.

Internally, Steve's mind began racing nervously before putting itself together. "You know, if you're not too busy tonight, there's a place down the road and I'd love for you to join me."

After saying that, Steve felt like half of a load had been let off his chest. The other half was waiting for Wanda's reply.

Finally she said "Sure. What time?"

"Umm… be ready around six-ish."

With that they departed for the time being, with another half of the load off his chest.

* * *

At five fifty, Steve Rogers paced himself in his room in the facility. He was no longer in uniform, but rather in the blue button down shirt and jeans he'd worn to Stark's party that Ultron had attacked some time ago. He was preparing to pick up the flowers that he'd prepared when Sam Wilson and walked in.

"Hey man," said Falcon. "Whatcha got there?'

"Oh," said Steve, "just flowers for a date. Call me old fashioned."

'You finally took my advice," said Sam with a grin. "And I doubt flowers on the first date is old fashioned. So who's the lucky girl? Wanda? Natasha? Don't tell me you're dating the Black Widow."

Steve shook his head and smiled. "Sam. Mind your own business. And what happened with that girl from Albany?"

Sam's smile turned into a frown. "Didn't work out. We got bored on the second date. Those things happen, y'know?"

"Actually, I do," said Steve, sadly thinking about the missed opportunity he had with Peggy Carter, and what she'd said to him in that vision: _We can go home._

"Well, I gotta give some of the troops knife training, so I'll catch you later," said Sam. "Maybe you'll pop the frozen cherry down the road if you're lucky. Know what I mean?"

Steve shook his head again. He put on his jacket and headed to Wanda's room. He walked down two flights of stairs and knocked on the first door on the right.

Wanda opened the door. "Hey."

"Hey," he replied back, handing her the bouquet of flowers he had. "These are for you."

"Thank you, they are lovely." As she set the flowers down on a table in her room, Wanda used her powers to look into Steve's mind. He was fixated on seeing her out of her usual outfits. For the occasion, she'd picked out an expensive red dress (Stark, of all people, had paid for it), the same shade of red she'd make a trademark of. Steve had never seen her properly cleaned up, and he was glad that she did. She took his breath away.

Wanda was thinking the same thing about the super soldier standing just a foot from her. Dr. Erskine had truly created the perfect man. His puppy eyes, seemingly flawless physique like his could make any girl's heart melt. Wanda knew better than to fall immediately for it though. Half the guys in Sokovia with those looks were trying to get in her pants, though she had Pietro to keep them away.

She almost frowned at the thought of her brother, but didn't. She was focused on simply enjoying herself on whatever Steve Rogers had planned for the night, and kept that thought with her as Steve walked her out and opened the car door for her as they headed out.


	4. Chapter 4

**I realize I left you guys hanging for a few days, and probably rushed this chapter. Enjoy the fluff while it lasts, because I have this habit of putting my favorite characters through not so nice situations.**

"Can I drive?" Wanda asked slyly as they got in the car. Steve opened the door for her but she was curious if he'd let her.

"Do you even have a driver's license?" was Steve's reply.

"In Sokovia. Does that count?"

"Afraid not." Steve started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

"Ok then, let's play a game."

"How old are you, twelve?" Steve was surprised at how resilient she was. She, on the other hand, was surprised at how serious he took this.

"Double that, actually," was her reply. "Why don't we play 'I never'? Its where-"

"I know what it," said Steve sharply, "and I'm not playing it. It's extremely immature."

"Only if you let it be. You've obviously never done it outside of parties, have you?"

Steve thought for a moment, though his eyes never left the road. "To be fair, every time I've played it, Stark was usually the instigator." He realized what the name meant to her. "He's trying to redeem himself, you know."

"I know," she echoed. "I just find trying to forgive him very hard. Pietro and I lived for fourteen years with one goal in sight: revenge."

"Not a healthy way to live," he said. "The man who picked me out for the serum and designed it chose me because of my heart, or so he said. He said he didn't want someone who power could corrupt."

"If that was what he wanted, he couldn't have picked a better man." And she meant it.

"Thanks. I tend to get that a lot." Steve liked this little conversation. He hadn't had a proper one-on-one talk with Wanda since she'd first decided to join the New Avengers.

"So, let's get back to playing 'I never,' if we could."

Steve sighed. "Never have I ever been so nervous for a first date."

Wanda's powers meant she could tell he was saying the truth. "That's not how you're supposed to do it," she said, letting off a little laugh under her breath. "You're supposed to make it personal."

"Like what?"

"Like, I never got to say goodbye to Pietro before he died."

She promised herself that she wouldn't bring up her dead brother around Steve Rogers, but hell, she'd done it anyways. The car fell silent.

"Are you okay?" asked Steve, ever the one to watch over her feelings. It was added bonus that he sounded sincere and unguarded.

"I was just thinking, about the last time we spoke. I was defending the vibranium device, and Pietro was helping Barton get the rest of the civilians on the boats. I told him to come back for me only after the civilians had been evacuated, not before. His reply was to scoff and remind me that he was born first, by twelve minutes." She let off another laugh, albeit weakly.

"I'm sure Pietro loved you," said Steve gently, trying his best to walk the fine line that was Wanda Maximoff's state of mind. "You can't blame yourself."

She sighed. "That was Pietro, tried and true. Always the one defending me, always taking stray dogs and cats just to give them a home. I guess if anything, he died saving someone. That counts for something, right?"

She hadn't even noticed that they'd arrived at the restaurant. It was Italian and screamed exquisite.

"Wanda," said Steve again, putting a hand on her shoulder, "don't beat yourself up over something you couldn't control. I don't think Pietro would want you to do that. I think he'd want you to keep on enjoying life. Like tonight."

She relaxed and loosened her mind a little. Wanda was getting the feeling that he had that effect on her. He got out, opened her door (as only the gentleman Steve Rogers could be), and they went into the restaurant. As they walked into the place, a waitress almost immediately greeted them.

"Mr. Rogers and Ms. Maximoff," she said to the pair, who were without a doubt the most notable customers the place had had in a while. "I'll lead you to your room."

Amid light classical music, the pair was led to a candlelit table. The room had the sense of a Medieval castle rather than just some building in upstate New York. Steve pulled out the chair for Wanda, and despite the huff and puff at his almost excessive chivalry, there was a sincere thank you on her face. Their hands touched for a brief second before he returned to his own seat.

Something about the whole thing felt enchanted, even magical, if either of them would bother to use the word. For the first time in a long time, he wasn't the poster child of the US of A, and she wasn't HYDRA's prized guinea pig turned Avenger. They were just Steve Rogers and Wanda Maximoff, a couple on a first date just like any other.

When it came to choosing their entrees, Wanda picked out the most expensive dish available out of sheer amusement. She almost expected Steve to grimace, but instead he just remained calm as he ordered his own food.

"Are you trying to court me with food?" she asked him playfully.

"Only if it makes you happy," he replied.

They talked about various matters while waiting for their food to arrive. They talked about their childhoods, about their early life struggles, and why they'd volunteered for experimentations with two different purposes. Time seemed to slow down as they shared old stories and experiences of days gone by.

Ghost had almost finished hacking the encryption that Romanoff and Rogers had given to him from Gasol's flash drive. Just a few more lines of code and every dirty secret the mob boss had on him would be open to the public. Ok, maybe not the general public, but the Avengers would know.

Then the message hit him.

Not literally, but an email that Ghost guessed must have been activated if anyone tried to break Gasol's encryption: _You destroy our world, we take away yours. Expect us._

Ghost didn't know what it meant, so he called Maria Hill over and maybe she could sort it out.

"That was actually pretty good," commented Wanda as she and Steve left the restaurant. She'd picked out a shrimp and scallop dish along with noodles dipped in Alfredo. It was all new and foreign to her, so Steve had decided to let her dig in.

"I agree," said Steve. "But let's head out to the theater." The second part of the night involved driving off to the local theater and watching Shakespeare's _Much Ado About Nothing._ Sam had grinned when he heard of the idea, but Steve thought it fit the occasion nicely.

A cold front had settled in, creating a nip in the air. Steve took off his jacket and draped it around Wanda's shoulders.

"You shouldn't," she said.

"I don't get cold anyways," was his reply as the slipped into the theater. An usher directed them to a private booth.

"How did you…" she asked to herself.

"Let's just say a lot of people want to be that guy who did a favor for Captain America," replied Steve.

Her eyes scrolled though the playbill. _Much Ado About Nothing_ was the story of two couples that fell in love over the course of events. One couple suffered through misdirection and ill intent, but all was made good in the end for them. The other couple was Benedict and Beatrice, who were old flames that reconnected over a good five acts.

Thankfully, they didn't have to pause between each act. There was a simple intermission about halfway. As most people got up to take a break, Steve looked at Wanda. "So, how's your night going so far?"

"Good," she replied, her dark eyes gazing into his blue. With her powers she knew that his first priority right now was her, not him. "It's nice to be out and just relax. I haven't relaxed like this in a while."

"I agree, he said. "Unguarded, even. That's nice too."

"Who said anything about unguarded?" A small ball of red energy emerged from the palm of her hand.

Before he could say anything else, the lights went dark again and the play resumed. She let the energy go and turned her attentions back to the stage.

Like many evenings, it ended too soon. The play only lasted two hours. Eventually they had to go back towards the facility.

Wanda didn't have to touch a single door as he escorted her out of the car and towards their rooms.

"Thank you for the evening," said Wanda sincerely as he opened the door to her room. "It was very nice and thoughtful of you."

"All in the job's description," he said back.

Then, she did something that surprised both of them: she kissed him. Not like lovers in their mouths, but just a quick kiss on the cheek. Then they said their goodbyes and he walked off, only to run into Natasha Romanoff.

"Hey Cap," she said teasingly. "You did it?"

"Um, yea…"

"And y'all enjoyed it , didn't you? Don't lie; I see your face turning red."

Steve had to admit she wasn't lying.

"Oh, Cap. It' so cute when you blush after getting kissed. Was that your second since 1945?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Longer time writing this one, but longer chapter as well. Enjoy.**

Steve awoke to find himself a picturesque view of a mountainous and wooded country side. The sun was shining and straight in his face to start the day. Granted, he got this view every day, but it didn't dim in quality from day to day.

All part of being an Avenger.

He rose from bed, took a quick shower, put on some running clothes, and headed to the track. He alternated which exercises he would start his day with, usually in the company of Natasha or Sam. Neither of them was up right now, so he took it upon himself to start his own routine.

Running long distances was always his weakness before the serum, so he committed himself to always run a few miles to start each day, even though he technically didn't need to. He just like the idea of a steady, daily schedule to stick to and follow. The others varied in their day to day operations but he didn't.

After a couple laps, Steve noticed something. Natasha and Wanda, both of them in jogging gear, begin their own set of laps around the track.

Steve slows down to catch up them. "Didn't expect either of you to do this at this time of day," he tells them.

"Natasha thinks I should try it more often," was Wanda's reply. "You know, the who exercise thing. I still don't get it, when I can just fly."

"You're flying capabilities are still untested," said Natasha, jogging at a steady pace. "Even you don't know the full limits of what you can and can't do. Like Ghost said earlier, never a bad idea to have a backup plan."

So the three of them jogged together , without much pressure. Wanda went her own pace. Not being a super soldier or a former KGB spy, she was significantly slower than Steve and Natasha. She didn't quit, however, and effort was always something to be appreciated.

A few more minutes passed, and then Natasha stopped to check her phone. "Fury wants me," she said to Steve, leaving him and Wanda together. She winked at the Captain before leaving.

 _Great,_ thought Steve. _Natasha's playing matchmaker for the hundredth time this week. At least it keeps her mind off Banner._ Bruce Banner still hadn't been spotted since he'd taken off in a Quinjet and piloted it over the Pacific, and Natasha was taking it somewhat hard. It was probably her first experience with falling in love.

And maybe that was why she was trying to set him up again with Wanda: to keep her mind focused on someone else.

 _Thanks, Natasha. You always were a bro._

Steve slowed his pace further so that Wanda wouldn't feel so discouraged. He could tell she was starting to pant and needed some air.

She looked good, he'll give her that. Her jogging clothes are stylish and form fitting, and there was no doubt Romanoff had a hand in her wardrobe. As the other woman on the team, that sort of thing tended to happen. In any case, it was working well for everyone involved.

Eventually, Wanda stops to take a break. She put her hands on her knees, let out a few deep breaths, then headed over to a bench for a drink of cold water. Steve figures he could take a break as well.

"Well, how'd you do today?" he asked her.

"A little better," she replies in between pants and with her usual accent. "Natasha wants me to up my time each and every day. I wonder why she didn't stay longer, but I don't want to look in her head again."

He understood that. Natasha did not appreciate having her head messed with. She easily had the darkest past of any of the Avengers, new and old, and most certainly did not appreciate having painful memories brought back to light.

 _Piss her off enough and she'll destroy half the country._ That was Natasha's main argument for not letting Wanda Maximoff on the team. Her reasons for keeping her out were both practical and personal. It had taken some convincing from both Steve and Barton, however, to change her mind. The fact that she was trying to set up the new girl with Captain America was either her way of punishing him, or she just liked getting people together.

"I wouldn't look in her head, either," said Steve. "Best you keep to yourself, alright?"

"Right," she mutters. "Don't tell her, but I think she doesn't want me flying because she's one of the only people here who… ahem, can't fly."

Steve had to raise an eyebrow at that. The only other Avenger who couldn't fly was himself. In fact, he told her that then and there.

"Fine," she said. "Let's race, then."

"You're in no physical condition to start increasing your mileage again."

"I never said anything about running." With that, she floated herself up and flew off towards the barracks. Steve shook his head and ran after her.

* * *

The conference room at the facility is, by Steve's measurements, needlessly large. Another of Stark's touches, no doubt. Steve sat down in a chair between Wanda and Rhodes. Sam, Vision, and Maria Hill were on the other side of the table. Ghost stood at the door. Fury and Natasha were notably absent.

"New week, new assignments," said Hill, ever so business like. "First off, there's clean up duty in South Africa."

There were a number of groans across the room. Everyone knew that the Hulk had gone berserk while the old team was in South Africa hunting Ultron (thanks in no small part to Wanda) and that Stark had been forced to deploy his Hulkbuster armor to put an end to it. However, the ensuing fight caused billions in damage and several dozen deaths. The South Africans, upon hearing of the creation of the new Avengers team, attempted block anyone connected to them from entering the country. It had taken Fury some time to persuade them to allow them back, and only to atone for the mistakes of others.

"You mean looking good for the cameras?" This question came from Falcon. Most of Johannesburg was cleaned up, but there were a number of anti-Avenger protests going on as they spoke.

Maria smiled, which was her way of saying Sam was correct. "Technically you're right Mr. Wilson, but that's for us to know. As far as the world is concerned, we're to be seen with both eyes at all times. We need to change that ASAP. Look at this building."

She pulled up an overhead projection of a South African skyscraper, one that had taken quite the blow. It was still being reconstructed.

"Cap, you should focus your efforts on rebuilding this lovely structure. I'm sending Rhodes and Wanda with you, given that their powers should give them the capability to do the heavy lifting alongside you."

That made sense. Rhodes was essentially the new Iron Man of the team. His suit had all the lifting capabilities of Stark's. Wanda's telekinesis, though it had not been pushed to the full limit of its capabilities, would doubtlessly be extremely helpful getting rid of debris and damage caused to the city blocks.

"Falcon, Vision, I'm sending you two to Albany. There's a local hostage situation that needs dealing with."

"On it," said Sam. Local matters concerned them just as much as the big ones.

"Maria," broke in Steve, "are you sure she should go? Wanda, I mean. There's no lost love between her and Africa, and once they find out she's back-"

"I can handle it," says Wanda with some confidence. "Besides, I want to show them I am not the monster Ultron had on his side before." It's the first time she's taken a stance like this on their mission ops, and everyone (mostly) agrees with her.

"So it's settled," chipped in Rhodes. "And if I may, where are Fury and Romanoff?"

"They're on an op to recover one of the NSA's spy satellites that went down in China," replied Hill. "Normally we don't take requests from Washington, but Fury thinks it'll give us some leverage in the future, and that's neve a bad thing to have. "

"Their feet wet?"

Maria smiled. "Colonel, imagine they're just about freezing right now."

The hangar bay at the faculty was just as impressive as the conference room. There was enough room her to supply at least a company's worth of military vehicles. One of the Quinjets was loaded for the ten hour or so flight to South Africa.

As Sam and Rhodes loaded the equipment in the jet, Maria approached Steve privately. "That was odd of you to doubt her. Normally you're the one taking her side."

"Just concerned about her safety. No harm there."

Maria just smiled back at him. "Well isn't that cute."

"You too?"

"Let's just say Natasha likes to confide in me. Anyhow, be careful with her. It's not just your mind she could mess up when she's triggered. There's dozens of construction workers where you're headed, not to mention the protestors. She screws with them, and it just adds fuel to the anti-Avenger fire."

"You're acting like I didn't know that already," stated Steve.

"I'm just making sure you're head's on straight." And with that she leaves him, while Wanda walks up to him.

"Let's do this," she said to him with the same air of confidence he knew was slowly building in her for days.

It gets boring in a Quinjet with only three people. Rhodey flew the jet, being Air Force and the military's liaison to the Avengers. That left Steve and Wanda to themselves.

"Hasn't been this quiet between us since Shakespeare," he utters, recalling yesterday night's date.

"I was focusing," she said back. "Focusing on fixing the leak under our feet."

Before Steve could reply, Rhodey looked back at them worriedly. "Something's wrong. The fuel tank on this thing is burning a lot more fuel than I expected."

"Yes," Wanda resounded, already aware of the problem. "I can try to carry the jet by myself."

It took her about ten minutes, but the Quinjet was now being fully supported by Wanda's powers alone. Rhodey even turned the jet off to save the fuel. Steve said, "Good. This is a taste of what we'll be heading into. Good practice."

"I never said thank you for last night. Not just the meal and entertainment. For helping me keep my mind off Pietro."

Steve was slightly relieved; he was expecting her to start melting at her brother's name again. "Of course. Just doing my duty as a friend. I'm here you whenever need it."

"Of course," she repeats to herself. Then, without thinking, she presses her lips on his. She was careful not to get too engaged with it, lest the jet fall.

She wasn't she why she did it. Maybe because Steve Rogers was the first man to truly be concerned for her wellbeing in years. Maybe it was how much of a perfect package he was. Maybe it was everything.

Steve looked both surprised and sheepish when she let go. "Ummm…" he stutters to himself, awkwardly.

"It was nothing," she dismissed quickly.

"I'm sure it was," he says, though he thinks it's more than that.


	6. Chapter 6

**This chapter introduces some new ominous characters. What is their goal? That's for later chapters...**

 _CIA safe house, about fifty miles from Washington DC_

As the sun began to go down, five CIA agents were watching the small neighborhood that their safe house was located in. All five were bored and wishing they had something better to do, but they had their orders to stay here and watch the safe house until further instruction.

About two blocks away, a man in black and gray running clothes put on a pair of tactical goggles and face mask similar to the ones used by the Winter Soldier. It was meant to conceal his face, for what he was about to do would require a level of anonymity. He walked a block, and was joined by another man dressed in a similar fashion. They took a left turn at the small intersection, and a third man, dressed like the other two, join them.

All three now walked towards the safe house in a leisurely fashion, for it was the best way to keep themselves anonymous. Speed walking would have attracted attention.

Before they made their move, the three went into an alley and retrieved the backpacks that had been placed their beforehand. All three had an FMG9 submachine gun that could be disguised as a portable case.

A man with the call sign of Neptune was in charge of the small unit. He had more men under his command – seven in all – but he felt that he would not need all of his assets, and so only brought two, Aztec and Griffon.

And he was right. For a CIA safe house, this wasn't a very hard target.

 _Construction Site, Johannesburg, South Africa_

"We're here to help." Steve Rogers knew those words had been programed into Stark's Iron Legion drones. Now, he found himself in a similar situation that the drones were in: keeping an unhappy crowd from getting out of control. Wanda was there too, next too. Rhodes, for his part, stuck to moving pieces of wreckage from the skyscraper and into loading trucks that were hauling it away.

"No you're not!" This came from a protestor wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. Anonymous, or that was what Steve had remembered from Maria's debriefing. "You and your friends made this fucking mess in the first place!"

"Watch your tone," growled Steve. His patience was wearing more and more thin as the protestors kept up their civil disobedience. "Maybe the Hulk did cause a rampage here, but we're not him. We're here trying to atone for what a teammate did, and not incite further damage."

He glanced at Wanda. They'd gone from awkward kisses to devoted Avengers in a matter of an hour. She was floating in the air, getting a bird's eye view of the crowd, which seemed to stretch at least a block down.

She remembered the times she and Pietro had gone to riot over UN involvement in her home country. At the time it seemed liked the right thing to do, but when she looked back on it, it was quite stupid. It wasn't the world's fault that Sokovia was such a messed up place.

And then, not long after one particular protest, HYDRA came to her and Pietro with an offer to strike back against the cruel world. It sounded very good for a pair of twins with no other options at the time. If only she'd known that it would lead to a chain of events that ultimately cost the life of her brother and hundreds of Sokovians.

She watched the crowd from above. She wondered how many of these angry South Africans would jump the bolt like she and Pietro did to spite the Avengers.

Wanda didn't want to think about it, but a rock that almost hit her head forced her too. Another masked protester had thrown it. "Weren't you that chick that helped Ultron send the Hulk here in the first place? If you are, get out of here!"

"No," she responded forcefully, trying her best not to snap and unleash her telekinetic powers on him. "I am not the same person that assisted Ultron in all this."

"Whatever you say," the protestor said mockingly. He turned to Steve. "Hey golden boy, How many times you gonna take in dangerous strays. First the Black Widow, now this bitch-"

That did it for Rogers. He flung his shield at the protestor, sending the man crashing into others. Before he could get up, Steve grabbed him and flung him away from the crowd. Sensing what was going on, Wanda set up a force field between the protestors and Steve. She needed to calm him down, but she didn't want an angry mob trying to kill them either.

"What do you know about us?" Steve yelled as he punched the hapless protester multiple times. "Wanda is ten times the person you are."

Had Wanda not known Steve Rogers, she would have assumed that Steve was mad. But she'd known him long enough to see that he was only being protective a person he truly cared about. But she knew he was getting out of hand; these protestors were going to get pissed and have more justification for their anger.

So she shot a red burst of energy that sent Steve flying to one side, the protestor in another, back to where the rest of the crowd was. The crowd was taken aback, and Wanda felt she had no choice to but to take control of their minds and send them away. She could tell the wrath that was building up in them.

"What was that for?!" Captain America was angry, but did his best to be nice about it.

"I told you I would do what was necessary beforehand, Captain Rogers."

"It's just Steve you know." His eyes gazed into hers. "And tell me next time you do something like that."

"It was a split second decision. What else was I to do?"

Steve thought for a moment. "Well, we can work on that when we get back to America. Now let's go help Rhodey."

The Air Force Colonel had been busily working throughout the whole commotion. He was currently lifting several half melted iron beams from the crash site and placing them in the next dump truck waiting for its load. "About time. I've been doing all the heavy lifting."

Wanda ignored him and focused her mental energy. A moment later, the rest of the steel and metal lifted up in a cloud of red, and moved slowly and surely in another pile where it was easier to lift and dispose from.

"Didn't know you could lift all that," commented War Machine. "Would have taken ten more trips if I was doing it."

"I think that was a new record," said Wanda. "I don't recall lifting that much substance with my telepathy before."

Eventually, the job here was done. Wanda took note that the construction workers were generally happier at the Avengers presence than the protestors were. _At least they appreciate the good that we do here,_ she thought. She also noticed that Steve had a more serious look to him. Almost as if beating up that protestor had hardened him for the time being.

It didn't take her powers to tell what was going on with him.

"Something's worked you up," she told him. "What is it?"

"I thought you weren't trying to get inside my head." Steve's voice is dismissive, as if he doesn't want to talk about it.

"Was it the man you beat up?"

Steve looked around, as if he was troubled. "I just don't like bullies. Never have, never will. That's why I signed up for the serum. The problem is, the doctor who invented it wanted me to keep a heart of gold, or that was what he said. Problem is, I don't know if I can keep a good heart forever. Too much has changed since the forties."

Wanda knew Rogers was always a man out of time. She could tell it when they first met, and when he clashed with Stark and took her side. She also knew him to be perhaps the trustworthy and good-intentioned person she'd known since Pietro. He almost filled the gap left by her twin brother. So, in a way, it made sense they were gravitating towards each other.

"Men like you are still needed today," she told him, wishing she could cure his troubled mind. "And no matter what you do, it doesn't compare to what I've done."

"I've told you before: it wasn't your fault. HYDRA and Ultron told you what they did to get you on their side…"

And so he goes on about how the Maximoffs were the victims. And while she does tire of it, it's better that his pity be saved for her rather than him, even though neither of them needs it.

* * *

Neptune and Griffon knocked on the door. If Aztec had completed his part of the op, the power in the house would have been shut off, sending a sense of uncertainty in the five agents inside. Hopefully, some of them would assume that the knock on the door was a technician, arriving the fix the situation.

The door opened and two of them faced the masked men. "You're not the electric people-"

Neptune and Griffon whipped out their FMG9s and fired a hail of bullets, killing both agents. A third agent attempted to fire back, but Neptune cut him down before he could shoot.

Neptune turned to Griffon. "There should be two more," he said in French. "Find them."

Griffon quickly searched the rest of the room, eliminating the two remaining agents. Then he and Aztec (who'd come around the back yard) began plugging USB drives into the laptops of the dead men. They had been hired to purge some guy named Zemo from the local records.

Neptune could care less about Zemo. He was more focused on the MP7s and Glocks in the basement armory. They would need these for their next assignment.

Five minutes later, an ambulance showed up, and five more men in black commando gear – Pharaoh, Basilisk, Nero, Trojan, and Charon – got out. They began moving the bodies in one room of the house, grabbing the weapons, and setting up semtex explosives in specific areas. That way, maximum effect with minimum detection would be achieved.

"Thirty seconds," said Neptune as he finished the last semtex block and got in the ambulance. The others followed. A minute later, a series of time explosions took place, causing the rest of the neighborhood to take notice.

But Neptune and his crew were gone. They were off to join their newest contractor for a new job.

Targeting an Avenger.

 **Remember to review/favorite/follow if you haven't already. It really is motivating!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Another day, another chapter. I noticed that I got my highest view count on the last chapter, despite a lack of reviews/follows/favorites. I got me scratching my head. Anyhow, read this chapter before I have to go back to summer school tomorrow. Read away.**

Steve spent most of the time on the return flight sleeping. Or rather, being kept awake by his own thoughts. His mind couldn't get the day's events out of his head.

It had been very much unlike him to beat up that foul-mouthed protestor like he did. On one hand, the son of a bitch deserved it. All of them, actually, shouldn't have been turning against the people who were trying to help them. On the other, that guy had the nerve to insult Wanda in his presence, and Steve wasn't going to let that happen.

She was getting in his mind even without using her telepathy.

Kissing her had been different. With Peggy, it had been a 'what the hell' situation, and probably would have been something more had he not gone under the ice. With Natasha, kissing her had been, to put it in Natasha's own words, 'just business'. Nothing more, nothing less.

With Wanda Maximoff, it was different. With most girls, they didn't bother with the inner man that Steve Rogers was. All they wanted was the physique that the super soldier serum had given him. Far too many times in World War II had he bene proven of that. Peggy was an exception, but that was long in the past. The world didn't change a bit. Trying to get in your pants, as Tony Stark would have said.

Wanda Maximoff probably didn't care how he looked. She cared about how he cared for her. And that was what made him drawn to her.

Wanda, curled up in the opposite side of the Quinjet, was thinking the same thing. Sure, Steve Rogers was a heartthrob, but he was a heartthrob with a soul. She thought he was the most incorruptible man she'd ever known. The incident with the protestor was a sign of his fierce loyalty, not an unconquerable wrath, though she'd seen firsthand men who'd succumbed to such rage.

Hopefully, Steve Rogers would not be one of those men.

The Quinjet touched down at the facility a couple of hours later; they'd fixed the mechanical problems before leaving South Africa. Black Widow was waiting for them, along with Falcon. She'd finished her spy satellite job with Fury around the same time Steve and his team had finished theirs in Africa.

"Hey Cap," said Sam. He and Vision had defused the hostage situation without any real complcations. "How was South Africa? Sunny?"

"Aside from the protestors that hate our guts? Yeah, sunny would be the right word." Steve didn't feel like chit-chat. This was the third time he'd beaten up someone that had tried to pick a fight with Wanda Maximoff. He wasn't sure whether it was just his gut instinct kicking in, or rather his feelings for her.

 _Cut it out, Steve._

"Don't want to talk about it, do you?"

"Please, Sam."

"It's alright, Cap," Sam wanted to have his friend's back. "Trust me, whatever it is that's bothering you, I won't tell anyone."

"I keep attacking anyone who's rude or disrespectful to Wanda. And not just a punch or two. I mean, almost out of control."

Sam's eyes widened, then widened some more. "Does this have to do with that whole crush thing Nat and you and I were talking about."

"I don't know, Sam. I don't know."

Sam took a minute to collect what to say to Cap. Not every day Mr. America came to you asking for emotional/relationship advice.

"You're smitten with her, Cap. That much I can tell you. I can't give you anger management advice, but maybe do missions and stuff separately. I don't know, man."

"Thanks for caring, Sam, but I don't know who's going to keep a watch on her if she goes berserk."

"She's a grown woman and she's been training with you over that. I think she'll be just fine."

* * *

Wanda Maximoff threw herself on the bed. It had been a long week (minus the date with Steve Rogers), and she was finally getting some rest.

After a few hours of napping, she found herself unable to fall back to sleep. So she got up, put on her coat (the thermostat was set on quite a bit cold) and forced herself to walk to the facility's dining hall. It was large and mostly empty, being the middle of the night. Natasha, dressed in her usual jumpsuit, was setting at one of the tables, munching on a bag of chips.

"Hey, little witch," she said to the Sokovian girl. "Couldn't fall asleep either?"

"I guess not."

"Good. Go get yourself something to eat and sit down with me."

So she did, picking out a jar of Nutella (she'd developed a craving for it) and some water to wash it down.

"So how's Cap doing?" Natasha seemed concerned about their leader, and a quick peek into her mind confirmed this for Wanda. She tried to be as quick and nonintrusive as she could.

"He makes a good leader," said Wanda, "but he seems to be… _passionate,_ in a way, when it comes to defending me. He nearly beat one of the protestors to death for insulting me in South Africa. I had to keep them apart."

Natasha was just taking all of this in, trying to get a grasp of the situation. "Interesting. You know, you might be the first girl he's fallen for since Peggy Carter. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it, given his track record with women."

Wanda realized the older woman was right. "It's just… why me?"

"Well, you're kind of like him, giving yourself to science with noble intent. Throw in the fact that you're insanely cute, and that's a package deal."

Wanda almost blushed. "You're too kind, Natasha."

"Thanks," she replied as she finished her bag of chips and tossed it in the trash can. "And I wouldn't worry too much about him getting angry issues. Steve's isn't that kind of guy. When he gets angry, it's usually for the right reason."

"I hope so," Wanda replied, uneasily eating another spoonful of Nutella. "I really do. You know, I've never said I'm sorry to you for…"

"The whole mind game thing?"

"Sure, if that's what you want to call it. I guess seeing what you went through makes my childhood not so bad in comparison."

"Maybe." The Black Widow, although not appeased with her mind having been tampered with, was able to move past it, if only for practical reasons. "No point in comparing each other's sob stories. Besides, you were Ultron's pawn during all of it. And stop eating all the Nutella, damn it. I want some too."

With the passing of the Nutella jar came a close to talking about painful subjects and a transition to more friendly chatter. Wanda knew Natasha was trying to be as friendly as possible without keeping her mind unguarded. And for the Black Widow, it was hard. She'd tried that with Bruce Banner with mixed results. Now, Banner was in hiding again, and it was hard on a woman designed only for killing.

But, Wanda could always hold her end of the bargain: don't mess with people's minds, and we won't view you as a threat. Or, at least Natasha Romanoff wouldn't.

* * *

Not far from the Avengers headquarters, while Natasha and Wanda were discussing life over a jar of Nutella, a van parked itself about half a mile to the south. Charon opened up his laptop and began scanning all the programs on it. If Gasol had done his part of the project correctly, he would have surveillance on the entire complex.

They would need this for the next job.

Neptune's phone rang. He looked at the caller, saw that it was the correct client, and answered. "Yes."

"This is your call telling you to go ahead and get it done."

"It will be." Neptune closed the phone and watched the surveillance footage.

Andrew Forson, Neptune had figured out a long time ago, wasn't one for small talk anyways.

* * *

Wanda went off to bed not long after the Nutella jar was done with. When she woke up, it was to the smell of bacon, pancakes, and an assortment of fresh fruit.

Turns out, Steve had made breakfast. "For you or for everyone?" she asked him.

"For _you_ , actually. But we can share if you like."

Steve was actually a really good chef, Wanda figured out later. She'd eaten all of this in droves since moving here but Captain America just seemed to have his own touch. "Where'd you learn to cook?"

"My mother taught me," said the super soldier. "Being poor and without a husband, she essentially made me the man of the house. Thought me everything she knew." They shared a look. "I think you would have liked her."

"Likewise with my own mother," said Wanda, tossing a strand of her hair out of her face. "You have no idea how troublesome Pietro and I could be."

"Oh really?" asked a skeptical Steve, raising an eyebrow. "You'll have to tell me more about it. It couldn't have been worse than… you know."

And so they talked about their childhoods. Both of them realized that they were more alike than different. Post-Communism Sokovia wasn't that much far away from the slums of Brooklyn in the 1920s. Wanda ended up telling him about that one time when Pietro and her, barely teenagers, robbed a UN van worth of medicine.

"Wasn't that stealing?" asked a slightly surprised Rogers.

"Pietro didn't care. The way he viewed it, it was going to end up on the black market and not with people who really needed it, so why not?" Her voice has a touch of distress. She knew impossible choices were made every day, but she hated being at the choosing end of one of them.

"But did you ever hand it out to said people?"

She let off a small smile. "After we took what we needed for ourselves, of course."

Sam walked in a few seconds later. He didn't say much, but he did grab some bacon and said "Training in five, Cap. I think Fury wants you and I working together today."

"Gotcha." Steve turned back towards Wanda, pulling her in. "I'll see you later today, alright?"

"Alright."

Her chest was rising as quickly as his. Steve's hands found her waist and drew her in. His puppy blue eyes locked onto her dark eyes. From there, it was just a matter of seconds before their lips connected.

This time, it was slower, and they were able to take their time doing so. For Steve, the whole process was still somewhat awkward, but he was learning each time. Wanda, on the other hand, had had flings before, but not an actual relationship that lasted very long. So while she was more experienced, she had never really found someone that really _cared_.

When the kiss finally ended, Steve looked around uneasily. Then he focused on her. "Be safe."

"Don't worry about me, Captain. Worry about yourself and what you could do to others."

"You know it was to protect you, right? In South Africa, I mean."

"I just don't want you losing yourself like I have before."

"I'll try harder next time." Although he isn't sure of it, he kisses her forehead to reassure her that he's fine, and heads out the see what the day may bring.


	8. Chapter 8

**Once again, thanks to all of my readers and followers. It really is appreciated. I know I don't address you guys that often, but just know I appreciate everything.**

Wanda swung again, and fired her blast of energy at the target 100 feet away. As with the targets 50 feet and 75 feet away, it shattered into several pieces, and Natasha nodded in approval.

"Improves every day," the older woman remarked, idly swinging a Taser. "Now let's try moving targets while flying."

The next part of the workout involves more targets, but these are harmless drones supplied by Stark Industries. They were based on the design of the Ultron drones, but without all the obvious "I want to wipe out humanity" aspects. Plus, they were cheap and disposable enough to be used each and every day.

Three drones came flying in, hovering around the gym where training was taking place today. Wanda concentrated her mind, lifted herself up, and began looking for targets. She destroyed the first drone soon enough; it was idling by and not focused on her. The other two drones, having taken note of this, began to evade her attacks.

Wanda moved towards another drone, which was at the northeast corner of the gym, and fired at it again and again until it fell to the floor. Natasha gave her a thumbs up and said "Now get the last one."

Wanda hovered over towards the last drone, which was larger and obviously meant to resemble Ultron Prime, and focused her energy and mind to attack it. But before she could, it spoke.

" _Worthy? How could you be worthy?"_

That was new, thought Wanda. The drones hadn't been able to speak before. Must be a new addition someone on the technical end made. Ultron's voice, in the flesh.

Before she could respond, it all came crashing down on her again.

 _She felt it, deep inside. Her powers included a telepathic link to her brother, her only surviving relative. And when it was severed, she felt it hard and heavy. She couldn't help but scream in agony as everything around her came crashing down._

 _The awful thing was, he died saving a teammate and a civilian. Of course he died for something. That would have been in Pietro's character. But why did he have to do it? Why did he have to leave her, the one who he always protected, alone in the world?_

 _She was still wondering these things when Ultron himself came crashing down, wounded and beaten._

" _Wanda," he said with authentic concern. "If you stay here, you'll die."_

 _How dare this soulless automation try to fake distress after taking the one thing she cared about the most._

" _I already did," she said with a vengeance, tearing out the robotic heart that powered the vibranium mechanization. With that, Ultron's main form died. Just like she had._

 _She should have died in Sokovia, with her brother. But the Vision had arrived in the nick of time, and took her back to the helicarrier to be hounded and examined like a stray dog…_

"Wanda, Wanda, are you ok?"

That was Natasha' Romanoff's voice. Wanda snapped out of her own flashback to find herself on the gym floor, sprawled out on a mat. The drone, which had triggered the nightmare, was all over the gym; it had somehow been utterly destroyed.

"Um, sort of. What happened?"

Natasha pretended to think. "You were about to finish that last drone, then your eyes went red. Next thing I knew, you were screaming and ripping that drone like it was nothing. Ripped a bunch of the mats and other equipment, however."

Wanda took in the full consequences of her self-induced hallucination. Half the walls were burnt with something that Wanda guessed was her red energy fully catalyzed. Natasha was lucky not to have been hit by it, or else she would be on fire.

"That… this has never happened before."

"Any idea what triggered it?" Natasha had slipped back into defensive business mode, as she was prone to do when she smelled danger right in front of her.

"I was thinking about what happened in Sokovia. What happened to Pietro." She almost expected herself to blow up again, but she didn't.

"Hmm. Forget about it. I'd go to your room and let yourself clear your mind. We don't want this happening where it's more than just us at risk." Natasha began texting on her phone. "Oh, and I'm telling Cap. Nothing personal, just making him aware of the situation."

So Wanda did, shaken.

So thinking about Ultron, thinking about how he killed Pietro, would send her out of control. The people at HYDRA seemed to be aware of this: that her powers were occasionally unstable. That was why they paired her with Pietro, not because he was her twin brother, but because he seemed to have a relatively stabilizing influence on her. He was the only one HYDRA could find.

She hadn't told anyone this little secret yet, mostly because she didn't trust them with it. A month ago, the Black Widow would have kicked her out of the team, not to mention the country. Even now, Wanda didn't need mind reading powers to tell that Natasha was telling Steve Rogers that the Scarlet Witch was a potential hazard to them all.

Steve Rogers. Wanda didn't realize it, but now she did. He might have been another one of those who were able to keep her from going into a meltdown. She doubted he'd been, well, born with the ability. He must have picked it up somehow.

 _Of all the people to come into my life…_

That was why she didn't blow up crying over Pietro's dead body, or on their first date. It was Steve. The man with a heart of gold on the inside.

She just hoped he knew what he was about to get himself into.

* * *

Steve was just about finished for the morning. He didn't know why Fury wanted him and Falcon to do yet another hostage situation/evacuate the civilians scenario, but he had a guess that Sam not being at Sokovia during the Ultron Crisis had a bit of something to do with it.

As he had once a week for several weeks now, Steve rushed into the fake building, using his shield to knock down the dummies representing terrorists taking the building and the people inside hostage. He was careful to avoid hitting any of the dummies with a green patch, they represented hostages. He put the first green hostage on the ground, then put them outside the window. Sam would then swoop down and take the hostage safely out of the way.

The second floor was not much different: just a bunch of hostages and terrorist dummies placed together. After taking out all the terrorists, Steve tossed the hostage dummies one at a time to Sam, who flying in his Falcon suit.

Steve jumped out the last window from the second floor and met up with Sam. "How'd we do?"

"Little under a minute. Think that'll shut up Fury now?"

Steve rolled his eyes. "You never know-"

The cell phone rang. Natasha. "What's up Nat?"

"It's Wanda."

* * *

Steve couldn't believe that Wanda had somehow wrecked the gym in a bout of dreamscapes, so he had to go and see it for himself.

It looked like a bombed out building. "And you're saying Wanda did all this?"

"Yep. Maybe we shouldn't have installed the Ultron playbacks, even though I thought it adds to the battlefield simulation."

"You did _what?_ " Steve knew about the Ultron simulation playbacks, but he didn't expect Natasha to use them this early. "I thought you were the one who avoid setting her off."

"Cap, she needs to be ready for the real world. It doesn't stand around for her to cry over her dead brother forever."

"Like you do with Bruce?" Steve's heart rate was going up at an exponential rate.

"Don't make this personal, Cap. You're not the one who's around her when she's going crazy. In fact, I don't think you've ever been around her when she has a breakdown. Is that a coincidence?"

"I don't know," said Steve as he turned his back to Natasha and headed for Wanda's room.

 **What did you think? As someone once said, reviews make for a happy writer, and a happy writer is a motivated writer.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Don't know why, but this chapter doesn't feel like the same quality of other chapters. But I think it'll sound alright to you guys.**

Steve walked out the gym, did a light jog in the summer heat, and knocked on the door to Wanda's room, asking if he could come in. A soft "yes" was the reply.

Steve stepped in and looked around. Wanda's room as spartanly furnished (she'd never been one to take an interest in it, let alone be able to afford it), but it was arranged to be pleasant to the eyes nevertheless. Everything was in shades of red, black, and gray, the colors she used for her outfits. Across the bed was a window to the outside world, the vast expanse of upper New York state.

Wanda was looking out the window, sitting on the window ceil. She had a glum look on her face.

"You alright?" asked a sympathetic Steve. He was gentle but slightly forceful in asking.

Wanda turned to face him, eyes glowing red for a split second. "She told you, didn't you?"

The Captain took a moment to collect his thoughts and turn them into spoken words. "Yes, Natasha told me everything. Are you all right? I'm just checking on you, that's all."

She shook her head. "Maybe. Maybe not. It's all the same."

"What's all the same?"

"How people look at me when I can't control _it_." She looped her hands in a motion, referring to her powers getting out of control. "Strucker, Pietro, Stark, Banner… Natasha is no different."

Steve let out a loud sigh. "She's just having a hard time adjusting to the fact the one person who messed with mind the most now works for her. She's getting better at it, but things slip through the cracks." He positioned himself to face her, sitting on the bed. "Forget about her. What made you tick?"

With Wanda Maximoff, Steve Rogers was learning, trust was the most important thing. She was a stranger in a strange land, so to speak.

"Steve, you shouldn't worry yourself with it. I can handle it on my own."

Steve took her hand with his own, intertwining it. "I'm the leader of the team. The concerns of the individual members are mine as well. You can trust me. I trust you."

He could tell she wasn't exactly comfortable with telling him her deep secrets. But at least she'd tell him, unlike when they were fighting to keep Sokovia in one piece.

"It's Pietro," she exclaimed, as if forced. "The playbacks on those practice drones triggered something. It's like every time I have to think about him dying, I'm send back there in Sokovia, having to feel him die, again and again. And when I'm back here… anything's possible."

As Wanda was talking and disclosing some obviously unnerving thoughts, Steve sat silently and just listened. It was one of those things that he was good at, mostly because during his childhood few cared what a scrawny 5'4 guy had to say. It all changed once he was 6'2 and 'ripped', but he didn't lose the ability to listen carefully.

"If that's the case," said Steve, "why didn't that happen when you talk about it with me? It's happened several times where we're together."

Her eyes widened. "I… I don't know. Honestly. Similar things happened when I used to think about my parents, and how they died. Pietro was there during the testing, to keep me calm. I think Strucker and List must have realized that he was able to keep whatever was about to tip over in me from pouring out."

Steve was quick to put the pieces together. "And now that your brother is gone, you can't control yourself as easily."

Wanda nodded timidly. "Yes, you could say that. Although I think that there may be something new to it."

"What?" Steve put his hand on her shoulder.

"I think you might be able to do what Pietro did for me."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"I think you might be able to perform what Pietro was able to do for me. I don't know how it works, but I think it might have something to do with your moral behavior. I see a lot of Pietro in you."

Steve could see it too. From the records that Maria Hill had dug up, he'd been the one to first volunteer for HYDRA's experimentation, not for personal power or gain, but to hopefully make his country a better place. And he'd died saving two others, a teammate and a civilian, without regard for himself. He'd seen to it that Pietro had been buried with all the honors he deserved.

But nowadays, Pietro Maximoff was dead and Wanda Maximoff was left without her brother, who had clearly been the closest she been to anyone.

"It's a good thing we're dating, then?" was all he could muster.

"Maybe it's fate," she says back. "We were raised in an Eastern Orthodox household. My parents always believed in guardian angels and that sort of thing. They'd think you were my guardian angel." She paused sadly. "They'd like you."

"Likewise." Slowly, he held her by the shoulder and lifted her up. "Let's take a drive."

"A what?"

"A drive in the countryside. Getting away from everyone and everything every once in a while can be a good thing. And upstate New York has a lot of scenic locations. We'll take our time."

* * *

Wanda sat bored in the car as Steve drove towards what she thought was nowhere in particular. Still, considering everything, she'd rather be bored.

The fields and forests of green seemed to go on and on forever. Steve mostly focused on the highway, although he occasionally turned to her, mostly to make sure she was doing okay. About an hour later, Steve pulled into what appeared to be a National Park. A sidewalk was lined with trees just about to turn yellow and red, but they were mostly green for the moment.

They got out, and Wanda followed Steve as he walked up a small hill to find bench, almost as if it was made for the two of them to seek and find.

"Tell me everything," Steve said suddenly.

"What?"

"Talk to me, about anything bothering you. You said I'm able to somehow control your emotions, so test it. We're not going to potentially harm anyone, if you haven't looked inside me head already. There's no one here right now."

So she did.

She told him about her feelings, about how much she still missed Pietro. She talked about her fears over whether anyone in the world would trust her after what she and her brother did to help Ultron nearly wipe out the entire human race. She tells him a whole lot more, but it's safe to say she pours her heart out essentially.

It was a load off her back. And though she'd never admit, she was relieved to have it off her back.

Steve, for his part, listened. He drew her closer to him and just listened. He didn't judge or interrupt her in any way. He just heard what she had to say, and took it in. She relaxed in his embrace, and he couldn't help but think about how pretty she was.

The moment ended with them kissing, but not after her told her for the seventeenth time that everything was going to be fine.

* * *

While Wanda napped in the backseat of the car, Steve drove back to base. He was happy to see Wanda relaxed from her previous fears and anxieties. He was taking a call from Natasha, who wanted to see how she was doing.

"I'll confess, I'm surprised you even managed to pull the whole damn thing off," she remarked over the phone. "You're good for her, I'll give you that."

"Just doing my job, Nat. Just like you."

"Speaking of jobs, mine right now is to see who the hell just attempted to break into the facility."

"Say again?" Steve was sent to a level of readied alertness in his mind.

"Not much, really. Someone slipped into the living quarters and tried to have a look around. They tripped one of the invisible security wires but got out pretty fast."

Steve knew this wasn't the first time someone tried to break into the new facility. About a week ago, Falcon had run into someone he claimed could shrink down to the size of an ant. He didn't know how he got there, but he'd made off with something from the Stark Industries history of the building. And when the place first opened up, there were hordes of paparazzi and fans, trying to get a glimpse of earth's mightiest heroes.

As Natasha was talking, Steve noticed an armored car, the kind that banks used to transport their money around, drove up extremely fast to get where Steve's car was, and then slowed down, so that Steve and the driver of the armored car could see each other. Steve wondered why for a few seconds, and then he saw it: a hastily constructed police blockade. No idea what it was; it wasn't her on the way to the park.

"Hold on, Natasha. There's some sort of obstruction ahead on the road."

Steve put the phone down and looked up at the road again. The policeman manning the checkpoint, who was more armed than a normal highway trooper, finished clearing the car ahead of Steve's and walked towards his car.

Steve was slow to recognize danger – until he saw the armed policeman pull out a compact submachine gun and aim it directly at him.

 **Hope you enjoyed the fluff while it lasted.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Once again, thanks for all the glowing praise. Not all writers say it, but every writer loves getting feedback. Hope you enjoy.**

As soon as Steve saw the fake policeman slip on a mask and pull out a submachine gun, he immediately got out and scooped up Wanda in his arms before the attacker could harm either of them. And he was on the right track: as soon as he got the half-awake Wanda out of the car, the front windshield disappeared in a hail of bullets. Civilians in other cars began getting out in a panic.

And that wasn't all. The armored car next to them was also hostile: its driver and two more men, all dressed like black ops guys, got out with MP7s and began spraying both the car windows and other cars around them for good measure, regardless of whether civilians were in them or not.

Steve was faced with a lot of hard choices. His shield was left behind in the trunk of his car, so going to retrieve it would be near suicide without lots of stealth. He had Wanda recovering from sleepiness in one corner, and dozens of panicked civilians in the other.

He decided on stabilizing Wanda first. He'd been working with her on situations like this, but who knew what would happen if things went to hell. "Wanda, can you hear me?"

She nodded timidly.

"Don't move. There are at least four of them trying to finish us off. I'm going to try and get my shield. Don't come out unless things get worse, okay?"

Another nod.

Steve looked at her one more time, then sprinted towards his own car, where two of the men were inspecting it for him and Wanda. The other two walked quickly down the rows of now abandoned cars, MP7s at the ready.

Steve was in the row to the most right, near where an exit ramp led to an intersection. He passed by each car, silently getting the civilians out and down the ramp, and making sure they didn't make too much noise. If they had, the attackers would have heard it and began firing in his general directions, and people could get hurt.

People weren't dying today because he was the target.

Creeping as low as ever, he took a moment to listen in on the conversation two of the assailants were having:

" _Trouver la fille Maximoff. Tuez le super soldat."_

Steve knew some French from his World War II days, but not enough that he could translate the whole thing in a few seconds. He did, however, have an idea of what they were after: they were her for Wanda, not him.

But who cared about some Sokovian girl? HYDRA? They'd be more concerned with taking out him first.

No matter. He had a job to do.

Seeing the two men talking, Steve took the opportunity to get closer to his car. The man who'd originally posed as a policeman was standing guard of it. Using stealth, Steve got as close as possible to him without making him aware of Steve's presence, then grabbed him from behind, clamping down on his mouth to keep him from yelling out to the others.

Once he was taken care of, Steve went to the trunk of his car and pulled out the vibranium shield. The straps on the back felt like an old friend.

"Arretez!"

Bullets peppered the car once again. That would be the others, having spotted Captain America and wanting to take him down. One of the shots ricocheted and hit him in the arm. Gritting his teeth, Steve switched the shield to the other arm and got down, bullets continuing to spray the area.

This wasn't the attack in DC, where he had Natasha and Sam to back him up. No, he'd have to do this by himself.

Keeping the pain locked up inside his arm, he slowly crept up to the two other men, one of whom was reloading his MP7. Steve took advantage of this to get close enough to get up to him and send him flying across the freeway with a jab from the shield. However, this meant that the other man, who was taken aback for a moment, was able to fire a few shots at Steve's thigh, sending him down again.

"You think you are mighty, super soldier?" mocked the lone attacker in an accent, his face covered by a tactical mask. "You think you and the others can do whatever they want, whenever?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Steve, strangely enough. This guy clearly wasn't the typical HYDRA runt, if he was even HYDRA to start with.

"You have no accountability," said the Frenchman, cocking his gun and ready to shoot. "You destroy lives and ruin cities, with no one caring the least bit-"

He was interrupted by a red hail of fireballs that hit him from the left. The man was sent reeling.

Steve turned his neck towards the direction of the blast to see Wanda standing up straight, a familiar red tint in her eyes. "You said not to come out unless things got worse."

"Wouldn't exactly put it that way, but good timing nevertheless."

Another barrage of bullets. The two men both had reloaded and were firing back. The man that had been thrown back by Wanda began to fire at her, attempting to aim for her arms and legs. If Steve remembered what he'd heard, they wanted her alive.

Unfortunately for them, it wasn't the same in reverse. Using some sort of psionic blast, Wanda reverse the course of several bullets and send them back at the attackers until the one she'd thrown originally wasn't standing anymore.

The other one, who'd seen how the course of events was about to go, began to fall back, collect the unconscious man that Steve had knocked out, and began shouting in French to the third surviving attacker, who'd gotten in the armored car and started up the engine. He dumped the unconscious man in the back and himself got in the shotgun seat, knowing it wasn't worth it to go after a dead body. The van broke off at well over 80 miles per hour, sideswiping several other vehicles in the process.

With the attackers fleeing, Steve turned to his arm, which had taken some more bullets throughout the attack. He put as much pressure on the arm as he could, but he could tell that he was going to need medical attention. He turned his attention to Wanda, who looked uneasy after killing the man.

"Was that your first kill?" asked Steve, careful to avoid the word murder.

She nodded, and said "I didn't mean for it to happen. Who was he?"

"It doesn't get any easier, defending yourself against those who wish you harm. And we'll find out who those men were, all right. Now, I need you to make some calls for me…"

* * *

Wanda was able to drive their car, damaged as it was, to the nearest emergency clinic. Holding Steve by his shoulder, she dragged him in and requested that he be treated as soon as possible. The woman at the front desk was skeptical at first, but when she saw who had just came in, she rushed to get a doctor right away.

Wanda was prepared to mind control the doctors if need be, but fortunately for all involved, she didn't need to. She wasn't going to let anything bad happen to Steve.

 _Her_ Steve.

He was taken to a room and his wounds all tended to. Wanda waited outside, telling Romanoff everything that had happened.

"You're going to need to slow down, honey," said Romanoff across the phone, trying to calm the younger woman down. "So you said they just attacked you out of the blue?"

"What?"

"Sorry, don't know if you knew that metaphor yet. So they just attacked you all of a sudden?"

Wanda gulped. "Yes, I think so. The roadblock was set up by one of them as a diversion."

"They must have known you two were going out for the afternoon," said Natasha. "We have a leak somewhere. Send us what you can of the dead man, and Maria or I will get you up to date on everything."

Steve and Wanda had taken the dead assailant's body and weapons (for a lack of anything better to do with them) and kept them in the car. In an hour or so, they'd know if this attack was done by HYDRA or some other entity. Wanda hung up and went back in the room to see Steve.

"He actually has a near broken forearm, but he's regenerating at a much better rate than a normal human being," said the doctor in the room. "A night's rest should have him back in shape."

Wanda thanked the doctor as she walked out, then went over to Steve and squeezed his hand. He smiled, as he'd squeezed her hand to keep her calm just a few hours ago. "Thank you."

"All in a day's work, ma'am." He found the strength to lean up and kiss her forehead. She still seemed a little unstable though, and he sought to change that. "You alright?"

"Killing a man is not the same as creating hallucinations or destroying robots. It's something that I can't just let go of very easily."

"I can't either. When I first signed up for getting a super soldier serum, the Dr. Eskerine asked me whether I wanted to kill Nazis. I told him what I thought: that I just didn't like bullies in general, and the Nazis and HYDRA were the bullies. Killing is never easy, but it has to be done at times. I've killed plenty of times, but I take no pleasure from it. Neither do you, and I'm glad. Many men take joy off suffering and death, you know."

Wanda was silent. Steve didn't know if his little talk was enough to comfort her regarding this difficult issue, but it was a start. He was going to talk more about it when his phone rang; it was Maria. "Yes?"

"Steve, its Maria. I had Sharon Carter over at the CIA run some facial scans from the man you killed. He's an ex-soldier, all right. But you'll never guess from where."

"France," said Steve. He'd heard the attackers speak French.

"Switzerland?" suggested Wanda.

"Neither. He was Canadian, like my father," replied Maria, who preferred not to discuss her past. "Name was Henri Morisset, and he was discharged from Joint Task Force 2 eight months ago." Joint Task Force 2 was a special operations force based in Canada. Largely classified, the unit specializes in counterterrorism and direct action.

"Was he part of HYDRA or what?" asked Steve.

"No. He actually joined Ares International, a private military company that's infamous for recruiting only the best and denying everything its employees are hired to do. They operate in cells, so the other men you were attacked by probably part of the same cell. I'll keep you posted. It's best you and Wanda get some rest; you both deserve it."

As the call ended, Wanda began to stretch on the couch in the hospital room and get some more sleep. Steve was inclined to let her get in her beauty nap, and somewhat lazily tossed a blanket over her.

He was slightly concerned he might be ambushed here, but he doubted it. Local police were watching the building.

* * *

Darcy Lewis, the secretary for the New Avengers facility, didn't particularly like her job. But it paid handsomely, and besides, she got to see an excess of masculinity, which she couldn't resist passing up. Her current object of attention was Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, who'd finally gotten the nerves to ask her out on a second date. Their first date hadn't gone so well, so she was hoping that this one would go better.

Still idling by in her front lobby office, she found Sam walking down from the elevators, dressed in what she would have described as business casual. "Well don't you look dressed up."

"Please," scoffed Sam, rolling his eyes. "Anything-"

The power in the entire building went out. The fact that it was nearly midnight didn't help matters. They were planning on going out to a nearby club, but apparently not.

"Well… that blows," replied Darcy in her usual sardonic tone of voice.

An ambulance appeared though the glass doors of the main building. Sam and Darcy went to check it out. "Okay," said Sam, surprised, "you guys aren't the electric people."

To be fair, they weren't. As soon as Sam finished his statement, a small metal canister popped out of the ambulance's window. It began emitting a green substance: tear gas.

Neither Sam nor Darcy could stand, much less do anything to stop several men with gas masks, submachine guns and assault rifles get out of the ambulance and begin making their way towards the facility. Sam saw that one of them had a yellow hazmat style suit on and that his name tag read "Andrew Forson" before he was knocked out by one of the other men.

 **What did you think? Tell me in a review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A little bit of a darker chapter, but it's all for the plot. I really need to stop doing that sort of thing to my favorite characters.**

Andrew Forson, dressed in his signature yellow hazmat suit, stepped into the main lobby just as Neptune began dragging Sam Wilson and the black-haired girl into a corner, tying them up. Here they split into two teams, automatic weapons at the ready.

Forson knew tonight would be tough on his mercenaries. He'd lost Henri, aka Pharaoh, in the attempted assassination of Steve Rogers earlier this day. In addition, Trojan had suffered a concussion. Normally he'd be out with such injuries, but Forson had insisted that he come along, because he'd need all the help he could get with his Plan B.

The Avengers facility was several thousand acres, and therefore impossible to search in full with just eight men. But Forson knew that there were three buildings worth combing: the main offices (where they were currently at), the hangar bay where all the jets and vehicles were stored, and the living quarters. Aztec, Basilisk, Griffon, Nero, and Trojan departed off the tactical train on the catwalk that led to the hangar bay. They would secure it and the living quarters, while Forson, Neptune, and Charon searched the main offices.

Natasha Romanoff was spotted near one of the Quinjets, closing the door to it and using a flashlight to find her way back. Nero popped another gas grenade, and in seconds the entire floor was doused in tear gas. Natasha attempted to run for the nearest door to avoid the gas, but she tripped and fell coughing.

After making sure Romanoff was secured and unable to get away, the men moved into the living quarters and searched the rooms one by one. Helen Cho, James Rhodes, Erik Selvig, and half a dozen others were quickly captured and brought to the hangar bay. They didn't encounter the Vision, but had a few toys to experiment on him in case he did pop up.

Forson, Neptune, and Charon were moving right along the darkened hallway leading to Nick Fury's office when they ran into a lone security guard. The guard immediately recognized the threat and managed to fire off a few rounds before Neptune gunned him down. Knowing they probably alerted their targets, the three men sprinted down the rest of the hall.

"What the hell was that?" said Ghost as he, Maria Hill, and Nick Fury were struggling to find their way in the darkened office, attempting to turn on some emergency lighting.

Maria pulled out her Glock and tossed it to Ghost. "Gunfire." Without warning, Fury pulled out his own gun as well. Maria headed out the back door to the outside, to go to the armory for more weapons, while Ghost and Fury stayed behind to hold off the attackers.

The door from the hallway was knocked down, and after just a few shots a grenade was thrown into the office. It was another gas grenade, and it effectively sent both of them reeling, trying to control their stomachs over what the gas did.

Forson turned over Fury while Neptune and Charon handcuffed Ghost. "Do you know who I am, Fury?"

"Yea," said Fury sarcastically, coughing up blood. "I know you're one son of a bitch."

"You don't know anything. Tie him up with the rest."

* * *

Steve woke up to find Wanda nested right on top of him. He could have sworn he'd given her a blanket for warmth. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get warm. You generate a lot of body heat."

Though he could sort of see the logic behind that, he suspected a ulterior motive. "You know, if you wanted to nap on me, you could have just asked."

"You were sleeping. Wanted to let you rest."

"I wanted you to rest, doll. Did you not see the blanket I gave you?"

And so they cuddled, while she said some and some about the blanket being too thin. It didn't take Sherlock to know why she was with him in the bed.

She felt a lot safer around him. She could hold her own, but Steve had proved to be able to keep the Wanda Maximoff reactor from having a nuclear meltdown.

Steve wrapped his arm around her as she tucked herself in tightly, giving her a light kiss on the forehead. Her response was to curl herself up in a ball of sorts, allowing Steve's body to encompass more of her.

Steve hated to think about what Natasha would have said if she was here. Romanoff would have gone off about how she'd finally made Captain America fall in love or something. Steve didn't necessarily want to admit that Wanda had grown on him, but the fact she was right here, feeling safer here than most places, said a lot about the slowly growing bond they'd created.

Then Wanda straightened herself and said, "You know, we have the room to ourselves."

"What are you implying?" asked Steve, not entirely sure of what she wanted now.

"Well, if you're okay with it, perhaps we could-"

Steve's phone rang the default iPhone ringtone loudly. It was an unknown number. "Hello?"

"Ah, Steven Grant Rogers." The voice on the other end sounded falsely delighted to be talking to him. "How good it is to be finally talking to you."

"What do you want?" Steve immediately jumped out of bed and stood up. He had a bad feeling that this person wasn't a prank caller.

"Call me Andrew Forson. I've got a friend next to me that wants to talk to you." Steve heard muffled voices and some sort of panic. A moment later, the screaming voice of Darcy Lewis came on the phone: "Steve, you've got to get us out of here!"

"Calm down Darcy. What happened?"

"T-they cut off the electricity and gassed the place. Got most of us tied up. Who the hell are these men-"

Before Darcy could continue, the phone seemed to be forcibly taken from her hands. Steve could only wait in horror as he heard Darcy whine and someone in French accent snap at her to shut up. Then "Andrew's" voice was back. "I hope you know the gravity of your situation, Mr. Rogers."

"What the hell do you want?" Steve asked angrily. Wanda chose to simply be silent and listen in on the growing situation.

"Let's see. Right now my men have fifteen of your people hostage, including a world famous astrophysicist and the former director of SHIELD. All of these people have lives and families beyond these ways, but I'm sure you know that already." Forson's voice seemed to spit venom, as if he would have executed them all if it weren't for something else nagging him.

"You still haven't answered the question."

"I'm getting to that. I believe you had an incident on the interstate, if I recall correctly."

"You son of a bitch," growled Steve. "You sent those men to kill me!"

"Yes I did. But you were a secondary objective. The Maximoff girl is of far more interest to me."

"What do you want with her?" Steve asked with grave tone of voice. Wanda's eyes dilated; she knew she was now an object of discussion.

"She needs to pay for what she's done. Plenty of people died in her little assassination of Strucker. You'll never hear it in the news, of course, but people not named Strucker died. Twenty of his guards and dozens more around where he was being held. Those men and women were husbands, fathers, mothers, and wives."

Steve took a few seconds to generate his response. "That was Ultron, not her. Ultron used her and her brother as pawns."

"Maybe so, but actual people died during that little farce. People like my cousin. And if you ask my men, they probably know someone as well. And then there's that whole publicity stunt you did with that poor country of Sokovia."

"You're misinterpreting the entire situation, you monster."

"Keep talking like that, and one of your friends is going to take a bullet over here. I'm going to draw straws for which one."

As much as Steve wanted to get his hands around this Forson's neck, he knew that acting irrationally would not be good for anyone involved. "If I give Wanda to you, do I get any guarantee that you let my friends go?"

"Dunno, but it wouldn't hurt to try, fella. You got two hours to comply." The line went dead. Steve threw the phone on the bed in disgust.

Wanda was silent yet again. She knew that Forson's grudge lay mostly with her. However, she wasn't exactly prepared to sacrifice herself for a group of people she'd known for a few weeks at best. "What are you going to do, Captain?"

Steve was also silent. The weight of the gravity of the terrible situation was heavy on his shoulders. "No way are we letting you go to him."

"But what about your friends?"

"I'm not letting them die either. I'll think of something."

* * *

Forson had Neptune, Griffon, and Trojan stand and guard the hostages, while Nero, Aztec, and Basilisk took up perimeter watch. The police were inevitably going to be on scene, so the three outposts were given headsets to communicate with the others. Meanwhile, Charon began hacking into every vehicle in the hangar. They'd need them for the getaway once the computer files on site were scrubbed of evidence related to Forson's associates at AIM (or what was left of it anyhow).

Aztec's voice chirped over the headsets: "Neptune, this is Aztec. I see Maria Hill. She's trying to get in what appears to be the armory."

"All right," replied Neptune. "Don't let her in. If she has a key, let her unlock the door and then ambush her. Do you need someone else to cover for you?"

"We're talking about a woman, boss-"

"Don't get arrogant. Now go get her and bring her over here. Neptune out."

Aztec wait until Maria Hill fumbled with the keys and unlocked the door. Silently, he crept up behind her with his silenced F-2000 assault rifle. He pressed the silencer to her head and said in English, "Don't move."

 **Sorry, I like to leave people with cliffhangers. Don't hate me for it and please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**So I was going to post this earlier, but apparently the site was down. So here it is now.**

 _Professional,_ thought Maria Hill as the man in black cameo gear and a gas mask pointed a rifle at her head. "Okay, okay."

"Put your hands on your head and turn around." The man's voice had the slightest European accent. She did as he ordered, waiting for the time to strike.

"Alright," he said, pushing her away from the armory and towards the hangar bay, "You get nice and cozy with the rest of your friends-"

Then she struck.

In one fluid motion, she slammed her right boot against the man's crotch, causing him to hunker down in sudden pain. Even as that was happening, she swung around and punched him quickly, leaving no quarter for a chance at resistance. The rifle was knocked a few feet aside.

Putting him in a headlock, Maria whispered in his ear: "Tell me the name of your boss or I will work on your crotch again, and not in a good way."

The man began to cry out through a headset in French.

Cursing, Maria slammed his head against a wall, knocking him out stone cold. After making sure he was indeed out, she quickly scanned his pockets, finding several hundred Euros, a Belgian Special Forces Group ID card, and various other items. She pocketed them all, tossed aside the headset, and dragged both the man and his rifle into the armory, shutting the door tight.

Only then did she call 911.

* * *

"Neptune, this is Basilisk. Aztec's been compromised."

Neptune sighed as he deleted file after file off one of the computers from Fury's office. He'd known Aztec had an arrogant streak, but it had never been cause for trouble.

"Keep an eye on the armory. If she comes out, put a bullet in her head. No chances."

"Understood."

"Oh, and there's one other thing." Neptune had an idea that would buy them all some time.

"What?"

"Come here and grab one of the hostages, and go to the front lobby with them. Let the police know we're meaning business here."

* * *

Steve told all of the police about the situation as best he could, then had them to start driving towards the facility to start a blockade. The last thing he needed with this hostage situation was the chance for the perpetrators a chance to get away that easily. He and Wanda drove back in one of the police vehicles.

"Are you really going to do this?" asked Wanda. She'd heard of what Steve had planned for dealing with Forson and his men, and she didn't like the sound of it.

"It'll work, trust me on this. I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think it would work."

The plan was to offer himself in place of Wanda. As Captain America, he was still a wanted man by HYDRA and at least several rogue nations. Any of these would pay a pretty penny for his head. Once he got close enough to Forson and the man had let his guard down, he'd overpower him and offer a trade to the rest of the men: their leader for his friends.

Yes, it wasn't the most thought out of plans. But he doubted that mercenaries, no matter how well trained, would be able to keep _Avengers_ hostage for very long.

Wanda was about to voice another protest when Steve's phone chimed. Steve saw it was Maria Hill and answered it. "Maria, are you all right?"

"Yes, Steve, I'm fine. I managed to lock myself in the armory with one of these bastards. He's not cooperating."

"Keep at it. I'm headed your way with a police blockade." He spoke to Wanda next. "Change of plan."

"What do you mean?"

"Maria's got one of the bad guys tied up. How good are your mental manipulation skills?"

"I think I can still do it, but haven't since Natasha-"

"That's all I needed to hear."

As it turned out, Maria had already called local SWAT to surround the entire facility and got Vision back from NYC as well. Steve and Wanda parked the car to find the SWAT commander looking dead on at one of the hostage takers in the main lobby. He had a suppressed SCAR-H rifle at James Rhodes' neck.

"Why don't you take the shot?" asked Steve to the commander. "If your weapons are suppressed, the rest of them won't hear a thing."

"Too many variables," came a gruff voice from the commander. "If even one of the others sees that happen, we can't guarantee anyone else's safety."

Made sense, to an extent. He'd dealt with hostage situations before, and his usual strategy was to barge right in and take out the bad guys. However, the bad guys had his teammates hostage, something that didn't happen every day.

"Time to move," he said to Wanda. They ran quickly under the cover of darkness.

The armory was behind the main office building, near the fields where everyone did their outdoor practice, whether it was the firing range or flying. Steve and Wanda were sure to stick to already existing shadows, because he assumed that there was someone watching that building since Maria had managed to take out one of their own.

He hoped Maria still had him left alive. His new plan would require it. Steve spotted a sniper on the roof of the office, and forced Wanda to the ground when she almost walked into his line of sight.

"What was that-" Wanda attempted to speak under her voice when Steve put his hand on her mouth.

"Quiet. I'm just trying to keep you alive."

He pointed discreetly at the sniper on the roof. Wanda looked at him for a second, then understood. "Sorry. I should have trusted you."

"Don't worry about it. As long as you're alive I'm good with it."

She was silent until they crept in the backdoor of the armory. The first thing they saw that wasn't a firearm was a man handcuffed to the wall, looking defiant.

"What do you want?" he spat at Wanda as they looked at each other.

Maria Hill walked into view, carrying a very nasty looking drill. "Been working him up for half an hour, but no progress, I'm afraid."

"How many friends does he have in the hangar bay?" asked Steve.

"Not many. I'd estimate less than a dozen. Very professional, very fast."

"Not HYDRA then." Steve stared at the captured mercenary dead on. "Do you want to get out of here alive?"

He simply stared defiantly.

"Alright then." He motioned for Wanda to stand up. "Make him see something."

"What's going on?" Maria was unaware. Oh well, thought Steve.

Steve focused his attentions on their prisoner. "You're going to do as I say or Wanda is going to make you see some very unpleasant things. Do you understand?"

Stone-faced silence. He really wasn't letting anything slip from him.

"You're up, Wanda."

Unsure of herself, Wanda placed a hand on the man's head. He attempted to cringe his neck away, but Steve put it in place for it to work.

And work it did. First, the signs of fear showed themselves as twitching of eyes, as if he had been transported to a place far different than the armory. Then, more of his body began shaking uncomfortably. Then there was sweating. And through it all, Wanda didn't let go of him. Maria gave Steve a worried look, but he put a hand up: _watch and see_.

After about a minute of this, Wanda let her hand off of him, and Aztec began gasping for air, as if he'd just finished a brutal endurance contest. Steve let him breathe for a few seconds, then crouched and looked him in the eye, face to face.

"Do you want to reconsider your cooperation?"

Aztec nodded over and over.

Maria had to ask. "What the hell did Wanda do to him?"

"Just some mental manipulation. She's been working on it with Natasha. It's like waterboarding, but you don't need water or a board."

"So Wanda tortured him by…"

"By showing him his worst fears. I won't even ask her." He held Wanda. "You good?"

"Yes, Captain," she replied, kissing him.

Maria smiled. "So it _is_ true."

"Shut up," said Steve, almost blushing.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Aztec came out of the armory, "holding" Maria Hill at gunpoint. He retrieved his headset and spoke: "Aztec here. I finally got the Hill woman."

"What took you so long?" Forson was very annoyed.

"She got the jump on me. Not many women can do that."

"You're damn lucky she didn't kill you," said Neptune. "Don't let your guard down again."

However, Aztec was following whatever Steve Rogers told him to do, which in this case was to pretend that he'd gotten the jump on Maria. While they did that, Steve headed up the ladder on the mail office building, while Wanda moved among the shadows of the building's first floor, towards the lobby where Rhodey was held.

Nero, watching from the roof, caught Captain America out of the corner of his eye, almost at the roof level. The entrance was just a few feet from where Nero was standing, so he moved his UMP45 submachine gun at Steve's direction. He only got a few bullets off before Steve knocked him off his feet, sending the submachine gun flying in another direction.

Nero was back on his feet soon enough, however, and pulled out a Glock he had in his waist belt. He aimed it at Steve.

The UMP was within Steve's reach. He preferred taking the hostiles alive, but he didn't really have a choice, not with a gun about to go off near his head.

He grabbed the submachine gun and fired.

 **As before, be sure to tell me what you thought!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I've been in something of a writer's block for this story, but do know I still appreciate the nice feedback, and continue to. I hope this chapter is good enough for you guys.**

Nero rocked back on his heels, then crumpled over. Steve went to check for a heartbeat and found none: the bullets had gone straight in the chest.

 _Damnit._ He had wanted as many of them as alive. Oh well, there were always causalities. Better this man than Sam or Natasha. He put the UMP's sling around his neck and jumped down to the ground, scanning for any of the other men. He found none.

Basilisk continued to face the SWAT team dead in the eye. He knew they wouldn't do anything, not with him holding Colonel James Rhodes at gunpoint. And even if they did, Nero on the roof could pick them off one by one.

It wasn't a perfect strategy, but he reckoned they'd be just fine once Forson and Neptune were done doing whatever they were here to do.

He didn't even notice Wanda Maximoff creep up behind, Levitating as small as possible not tomake the slightest sound, Wanda floated around the darkened and seemingly abandoned hallways to find another of the hostage takers, this one using the threat of offing Rhodey to keep the police and SWAT barricade from barging in.

Wanda considered several ways of handling the threat, and then settled on one. She whistled at Basilisk to get his attention. He turned his head nervously.

"What the hell-"

That was all that the man was able to get out before Wanda hit him with a red hex, knocking the wind out of him. As soon as Basilisk was on the ground and his rifle out of his hands, the SWAT made their move. Several of them quickly grabbed the mercenary and handcuffed him, while others revovered Rhodes, taking him to safety.

"Thanks," the colonel said to Wanda. "I owe you big time."

"Don't thank me," was her reply. "Thank the Captain." Her attentions turned to the SWAT leader. "There's more in the hangar bay."

"We got it. Lead the way."

She did, two dozen armed policemen following close behind.

* * *

Aztec continued to pretend to hold Maria at gunpoint, with only the two of them aware that Maria had stuck several guns in her suit. As they approached the huge hangar bay, Trojan broke off from guarding the hostages to bring them in. "Took you long enough to get her."

"Does it matter? We're not keeping score on anything."

"Okay, I guess not. Hand her over and get your ass back to patrol duty."

As soon as Aztec did, however, Maria pulled out her pistol and shot Trojan point blank. The mercenary fell, stone dead. Before Aztec could do anything, Maria shot him in the leg, just to be safe. Then she grabbed his F2000 and began running.

She stopped when Captain America ran into her. She apologized for nearly shooting him in the face and he said not to worry. It was the hostages that needed saving.

Now, with several of the hostage takers eliminated through various means, there was just one man guarding the hostages. He was pacing back and forth, speaking in his headset uneasily. _Attempting to contact your friends who are already dead or in custody,_ thought Maria. She signaled to Sam, who got the message: _Let me deal with this._

While Sam signaled to the others that Maria was going to get them out of there, Maria banged on the door leading to the armory. Griffion immediately heard it and walked towards it. Hiding in a corner, Maria waited for him to walk past him and spot Aztec laying on the ground. Before he could react, she put the gun at the back of his head: "Not a move, or you're dead."

"I don't think so, Ms. Hill."

That was the smug voice of Andrew Forson, holding Natasha Romanoff at gunpoint. Neptune and Charon held Nick Fury and Selvig, respectively.

"Let my man go or else the Black Widow gets a bullet."

"You're bluffing. You need her alive."

"Really?" Forson cocked his Desert Eagle. "How about now-"

He was interrupted by the red hex that had been fired straight at him. Wanda Maximoff quickly threw up a red shield of similar energy to deflect bullets fired by the others. She also shielded Steve and the rest of the SWAT moving in and taking cover around the hangar bay.

The battle soon became a free for all. Most of the remaining hostages escaped under the cover of the SWAT teams. Griffon managed to get back with Forson, but not before taking a shot to the shoulder.

Seeing the way the battle was going, Forson told his remaining men to let the hostages go and to get in one of the Quinjets. The wounded Griffon provided covering fire while the other three slowly got in the Quinjet, powering it on and flying out of the area. A few bullets dented the jet, but there was no real damage to them. Griffon, however, got left behind, and was promptly bound and gagged.

Steve's focus was on Natasha, who'd also be unintentionally thrown by Wanda's hex. "Nat, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She'd hit her head but other than that there was no real damage to her. "Was that Wanda throwing a hex at me."

"Yep," said Steve, rather awkwardly as Wanda herself walked up to the two of them. "Don't suppose you're mad at her for it?"

"Not at all. It's what I would have done in that situation." Natasha's words seemed to put Wanda at more ease.

Everyone was accounted for on Steve's end, but three of the bad guys had made off with one of their Quinjets. He didn't know whether the stealth tech on that particular jet had been installed yet, but if it was, he was going to have a very hard time.

If he had an idea of where they'd be headed, his job would be so much easier. He grabbed Griffon by the neck, took off his gag, and asked angrily, "Where'd your friends go?"

"I ain't telling you shit," was the response.

"You really wanna do this, pal? Because one of your other friends experienced something that he didn't really have to. I'm offering you a chance to do the right thing."

"I _am_ doing the right thing, meat head. You super soldiers and high tech gizmos all think you're hot shit and stuff, going around the planet, cleaning up messes you created, destroying lives in the process. I don't get why anyone think's your special enough to have this playpen you call a base."

Steve frowned. They really thought they were on the side of good, weren't they?

"All right, as I said with your other friend there, your choice. Wanda, fix his mind with something not so sweet, would you?"

She nodded and grabbed Griffon's head with both hands. Like she had with Aztec, he began convulsing violently. However, she seemed to be working with his mind far worse and far faster than before. When she let go of him, he was panting.

"Alright, they're probably headed to Ares' headquarters, a mobile offshore base near Genosha. My guess is that they'll recuperate there before planning what to do next. Now get that bitch away from me!"

While the wounded Griffon was taken along with Aztec by the SWAT, Steve began thinking about what to do next: "We need that jet back. Natasha, can you track it?"

"Depends on the stealth tech, Cap."

"Try anyways." Steve then focused his attentions on Wanda, taking her in his arms. "You need to rest some more. I'm not sending you in whatever team goes after that bastard Forson."

"But Steve, I want to-"

"You're not going, and that's an order. I'm not going to even consider it. You're the one he wants dead."

Wanda crossed her arms.

"If he wants me, then he'll get it. Besides, there's not many people that can move an entire jet with their mind alone."

"Wanda-"

"She's right, Cap." That was Natasha, patting Steve on the back. As much as it hurts to say it, she's one of our best bets to finding the rest of these scumbags. Plus, she already proved tonight that she can hold her own. Same as with Sokovia."

Looks from Maria and Sam showed they agreed. Steve still wasn't sold on the prospect of throwing Wanda into the fire again, but the tide had turned against that particular opinion.

He felt like Fury did when Fury objected to blowing up SHIELD, only to find that everyone else wanted for the blowup to happen. God, he hated being wrong.

"Fine," he let slip in between his teeth.

"Good," said Natasha, letting off one of her devious half-smiles. "We'll take Vision as well, because I doubt anyone's come up with a way to deal with him."

"I agree," seconded Maria. "They knew to hit the place while Vision was away."

Vision himself floated down to where the other heroes were conversing. "I only regret that I could not make it in time to help anyone."

"It's not your fault," said Wanda reassuringly. "They're scared of you and would rather not fight you."

"That is reassuring," said the android in a pleasant manner.

Natasha's eyes suddenly beamed from the phone she was looking on. "The stolen Quinjet's not one of those with camouflage tech. It's currently above the Atlantic Ocean, but will get within African airspace in an hour or so."

"So we'll be quicker," said Captain America.


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay, so I wanted this chapter to be longer. But it isn't. I think it's still readable, and that's what counts, right?**

 _Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean_

"All right, Vision, you're up." Steve had taken Natasha, Vision, and Wanda (begrudgingly) out in another Quinjet to confront the would-be attackers before they got to Genosha. The island of Genosha was, on a whole, not a friendly place to be and it harbored lots of people like those mercenaries.

Vision phased out of the Quinjet, leaving not a scratch. He floated towards where the enemy jet was flying and fired a beam of energy from the Mind Gem to get their attention. The beam struck one of the wings, causing a fire to occur. The jet turned itself around and began firing on Vision. However, even at several hundred rounds a minute, the bullets did nothing to the synthetic android, passing through his body harmlessly.

"Surrender now," said Vision loud enough so that Forson could hear him, "and no one will be harmed."

A middle finger, from who appeared to be Forson, emerged. The minigun began firing on Steve's jet, in an attempt to bring it down. Vision went for the minigun and tore it off, but a good number of bullets hit their mark.

Steve and Natasha struggled to keep their jet in the air. A number of flashing warnings had come up, and the jet was slowly losing elevation. Wanda, for her part, began to attempt to keep the jet up by herself. It required all of her mental telepathy, but eventually she got the Quinjet stabilized at a point. Steve got out of the pilot's seat to check on her.

"You think you can handle this?" he asked her. Despite her protests, he still was going to keep her in his range at all times and places.

"Yes, Steve, I can. Just get Vision to take them down."

"Already on it," replied Natasha, speaking while ordering Vision to attack again. The android disliked conflict, but he'd grown attached to the team and would do anything to keep them from harm.

Vision phased through the glass of the enemy Quinjet, and was able to grab Andrew Forson with little effort. Forson screamed as he was grabbed through the glass and hoisted up in the air.

"Tell your men to stand down or I will have little choice to use you as a human shield when they fire again," the android said coldly.

Forson looked around in terror, then finally said "Alright, I'll do it. Neptune, Charon? Land the jet somewhere. This isn't worth fighting over."

"But boss-"

"None of that shit. I prefer living."

Fifteen minutes and an abandoned beach later, Forson, Neptune, and Charon were all captured and placed flat on the floor. Steve thought it to be suspicious, but as long as he and his team were out of danger, he was fine with it.

"Time for prison, pals. Was going after Wanda really worth it anyhow?" asked Steve.

"Maybe, maybe not," was Neptune's reply. "If we'd taken the offer from Mr. Lensherr to get his daughter back-"

"Can it!" snapped Forson.

"Daughter?" asked Wanda, sensing that the two were talking about her. "My father is no longer alive."

Forson laughed. "I wouldn't have brought it up, but what the hell. You really think that you and your twin brother survived Strucker's tests by sheer willpower alone? Wrong. You were born different."

"My parents were Sokovian Roma."

"So you thought. But you were dropped off at their home by Erik Lensherr. He only wanted what was best for you."

"Look," said Charon, who seemed annoyed, "this is fun and all, but can we switch to Plan B yet?"

"Ah yes, Plan B."

And then it happened.

The Quinjet that belonged to Forson and his men exploded in several fireballs. While the four Avengers there all braced themselves. Forson got up and pulled out a small pistol. He aimed it at Natasha Romanoff, the closest target. He knew it was near-suicide, but if he was going to be killed or captured, he wanted at least one kill on his record for it.

Wanda, however, saw the gun come out. Without thinking, she pushed Natasha away –and in the process, exposed herself to attack. The bullet entered just below her shoulder, and she fell back, cringing in pain.

"NO!" Steve was quick to punch Forson as hard as he possibly could, knocking the AIM leader to the ground. The two mercenaries attempted to get out their own weapons, but Vision swiftly knocked both of them back on their feet, and pinned them to the ground once more.

After beating Forson to a pulp, Steve rushed to check on Wanda. The blood was oozing out of the exit wound, and she was fading into unconsciousness fast. Steve grabbed her hand and squeezed it hard. "You're going to be alright Wanda. Just hang in there."

"I'm trying… Cap." Her voice was weak, but she still managed to evict a small smile.

That got a smile from Steve as well. "The bullet went through clean, thank God. Do you need something for the pain?"

"I don't…" She groaned again, as if something had just stung her. "Ok, maybe I do."

"Here's some morphine." Steve quickly injected a shot of morphine in Wanda's arm, and she relaxed before passing out. That being taken care of, Steve went back to beating up Forson.

"Listen to me. I'll bet you thought that was really smart of you. You're wrong, and you're going to find out just how wrong you were. But first I suspect you'll bleed. A lot."

Forson spit out some blood in his mouth. "Go ahead, Do your worst."

 **In other news, I'm starting college this week. That means I'll only be posting stuff maybe 2-3 times a week. This work has one more chapter, and from there you can read Enemy of the Nation to follow. It features both Punisher/Maria as well as Steve/Wanda and focuses on Civil War, so I hope you'll enjoy.**

 **-Jokerang**


	15. Chapter 15

**I know it's been a while, and it's rather short, but here's the final chapter. Not to worry, however: the story continues in "Enemy of the Nation," which is already up and running.**

Hospital beds. Checking with the doctors every hour. Beating up Andrew Forson for the fifth time that night.

Steve Rogers wasn't exactly a happy man.

Sam had tried to calm him, to get him to see that Wanda was going to recover any minute. But he didn't see it. As long as she was unconscious, he felt finished. He felt like he'd failed his job: leading and assisting his teammates.

And he'd fallen short on the second part of the clause.

Now, as he waited outside Wanda's hospital room, ten hours later, he couldn't care less about the lack of sleep he was no doubt experiencing the effects of. He just wanted to make sure that Wanda Maximoff was going to get through this.

Because, damnit, he was in love with her. He didn't intend to, but now he was, and he was going to have to live with the effects of it.

Sam came in the waiting room again, this time accompanied by Darcy. Both of them had very glum looks on their faces.

"I'm sorry," said Darcy. Surprisingly, there was no sarcasm in her voice. And then she said, "She's gonna live, right?"

Sam stared her down. Now wasn't the place for that.

"Sorry," Darcy said again, sheepishly.

Steve just stared into empty space. Not wanting to upset him further, Sam and Darcy left him, hoping it would clear his mind or something. The doctor came in for another update.

"She's stable," the doctor said. "You can see her again if you want, though I doubt she'll wake up soon."

"Thank you." Steve walked in and sat in another chair, this one next to Wanda's hospital bed. She was unconscious, heavily sedated, and still, she looked beautiful. Like an angel at rest, as his mother used to say.

 _Please wake up,_ Steve thought to himself as the heartbeat machine recorded the heartbeats in rhythm. _Please don't do this to me. I… I_ love _you._

He spent a few more minutes praying. He didn't do it that often, and he knew he should do it more, so he did, silently.

Steve was about to get another glass of water when he heard a faint voice.

"S-Steve? Is that you?"

Wanda was awake. Half-awake, to be precise, but not unconscious all the same. Steve went to her side. "Thank God. How are you feeling?"

"Very woozy… what happened to my wound?" Her hand lazily felt around where Forson's bullets had hit her. The blood and grime had been replaced by some hesitantly done stiches.

"We got you to a hospital. They fixed you up. You're safe now." She smiled and relaxed a little bit more.

"Steve… what about Forson?"

 _Andrew Forson._

"He's not going to hurt you ever again. Not on my watch." He'd taken steps to reassure himself of that: Forson had been dropped off at Stark's private prison. Project 42, or that was what Stark had called it. It was a convenient place to send those they didn't want but couldn't kill. As much as Steve wanted to kill the bastard, Forson's death would stir a hornet's nest of trouble, especially if Ares International was still keeping tabs on the situation.

As for Charon and Neptune, they were handed off to NATO. Let them settle those two European mercenaries out.

Wanda exhumed and stretched a little bit. Then she thought for a moment, and then said, "Was what Forson said about my biological father true?"

"I don't know," said Steve in reply. "I doubt it. Probably something he thought of to distract you so that he could shoot you. I wouldn't think too much of it."

Unknown to her, he did think if it. A lot, in fact.

After dropping off the mercenaries at a NATO base in Somalia, Steve went into searching old SHIELD files of anyone named Erik Lensherr. He found a few mentions of one in Germany, but didn't get much more other than that he was the son of Holocaust survivors and that he'd been expelled from East Germany for "violent insurrection", along with mentioning of metal manipulation. Steve didn't know what to make of that last part; in this day and age anything was possible.

"Oh, okay then. And Steve…"

"Yes?"

She pulled him in for a sweet and passionate kiss, using the energy she had left in her. She felt it needed to be expressed in the way she felt best. After a few seconds, she broke contact.

"Thank you. For everything."

"Of course," said Steve, blushing. "I love ya."

 _Damnit._ He'd said it, and there was not taking it back.

"I love you too," was the reply.

He was pleasantly surprised that she said it back. One of his biggest fears was rejection: as a child, being small and runty didn't help his confidence levels one bit. Nowadays, with a prime human physique, he still had that lingering fear of being said "no" to.

To hear her repeat his intentions was satisfying.

* * *

Outside the hospital, the two men waited for the Captain to leave. They'd been monitoring everything since Wanda had arrived.

"She's safe," said the older of the two men.

"You sure about that?" asked the younger of the two, in what would be described as a cocky attitude. "She's your daughter. You gonna let Captain America fondle with her?"

"I said, she's _safe_." The older man raised his voice slightly. "The good Captain cares for her, and that's good. But he'll have to make a choice very soon. She will, too. A lot of people will."

"Whatever you say, Eric," said Pyro as the two got back in their vehicle.

 **And that takes care of that. Remember to follow/favorite "Enemy of the Nation," and maybe a review or two!**


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